Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Toward the World's End
by Overlord-A
Summary: Story One: Lifetime Destiny


**Magical Girl **

**Lyrical Nanoha**

**Toward the World's End**

**Story One – Lifetime Destiny**

A fan fiction by

Addison Saunders

The hot sun beat down upon the busy street, as I walked along the footpath. People brushed past me, with little regard or notice for me, the small boy beneath their feet.

The din of the rushing cars on the road beside me was so loud it pierced through the music pumping from my headphones. Annoyed at this I took my portable player from my pocket and ran my finger across the volume controls, turning up the music to maximum. Perfect, I couldn't even hear my own voice from outside the blearing music.

I kept walking, now where was I going again? Oh yes, I was going home from school. I shoved my hands in my small pockets and kept walking, lost in thought about how I was going to handle that homework assignment I had. "_Write a report on someone that inspires you_" was the task. It had to be over eight-hundred words and explain who the person was, why they inspired me, and what notable things they did during their life.

Now what to do about that?

Not one person across all my 8 years of life had inspired me. Not any of the adults in my life, not any of the people in the history books I'd read.

It wasn't that I hadn't _tried_ to be inspired. Everything was just underwhelming to me. I passed my classes easily and my teachers taught me nothing that I couldn't teach myself. In-fact I _had _taught myself most of the things I knew. The few friends I had at school weren't exactly inspiring either, since most of them were more concerned about what toy they would buy next, or when they were next going to have a birthday party.

I rounded the corner, stopping at the side of the road, waiting with the other crowds for the "walk" light to turn on. The song I was listening to finished and swapped over to the next one, I bobbed my head just a little in time with the music, just as the light finally went on. With the other people I crossed the road and continued walking, my music cutting me off entirely from the world. I kept contemplating my assignment. I really was not going well at this whole "being inspired" thing. Oh it wouldn't be a problem. I would just look up some famous scientist, write a report claiming I was oh-so-inspired by them, turn it in at school and score an "A". Again. Same routine as always, boring as usual.

That was the problem, my life was boring. I couldn't find someone to inspire me if I tried.

I looked to the sky, watching the white clouds drift lazily in the breeze, passing over the glare of the sun, though their wispy forms failed to block neither the light, nor the intense heat of the great ball of fire that our world revolved around.

Abruptly my walking momentum stopped, my headphones fell from my ears and something hit my chin. I heard a little squeal and another thud. I had crashed into something.

I cast my eyes down, and I saw the person sitting on the ground right in front of me. Ah, _that_ was what I crashed into.

From just a glance I could see that the unfortunate person I had hit was a girl, probably about my own age, with light brown hair neatly split into two tiny pigtails that dangled from either side of her head.

I rolled my eyes and held out my hand for her to take,

"I'm sorry" I said, the tone in my voice genuine, "I wasn't paying attention"

Her small hand took my own, and I hoisted her to her feet. Only then did I see her face, and when I did my eyes widened, just a bit.

She was absolutely beautiful, with big, dark purple eyes, soft, unblemished skin and smooth perfectly proportioned features.

Her eyes met mine, and she blushed, just slightly.

With a start I realised I was still holding her hand, I let go quickly, dropping my own arm to my side.

"Its okay" she said, brushing dirt off her blue dress, "I wasn't paying attention either", she smiled, and I felt my face redden a little.

Nervously I scratched the back of my head, trying to look anywhere but at her. She was still smiling.

"Anyway", I managed to get out, "Sorry about that"

I swept up my headphones, and stepped forward, when I felt her grab my sleeve. I turned my head back toward her, she was looking at me, and slowly, in her sweet voice said;

"Um, excuse me," she started, her eyes looking away from me for a moment, "at any rate, I'm lost and don't know where to find my friend, could you help me, maybe?"

It was at that moment I noticed the necklace she was wearing. Though the cord was plain, the round pink jewel that hung suspended from it glinted in the light. For some reason it gave me a sense of hidden power, like it held a secret locked away underneath its glassy surface, my eyes lingered on it, before I tore them away and back to her face.

Once again I felt myself blush just a little at the sight of her, she had asked me for help hadn't she?

"Um, sure" I said to her, trying to smile but winding up with a goofy look on my face instead.

She smiled again,

"Thank you!" she said happily, "normally I wouldn't have to ask, but the friend that would show me where to go is sick", she gave a little laugh as she said this, it sounded as pleasant as her voice.

I had never met a girl remotely like this one ever before. She intrigued me, not only with her beauty, but her attitude. Unlike the frustrating, whiny girls at my school, who were constantly over applying makeup, pretending they knew what "love" was and talking about each other behind their backs, this girl seemed genuinely friendly. I searched for the word to describe her, but gave up and returned my attention to her problem.

"So where are you trying to get to?" I asked her.

She put her finger to her mouth and looked away as she tried to remember

"I think it was," she paused, still considering, "The city park…" She nodded and smiled again, "mm! The city park"

"That's easy," I said, my usual bored expression curling into a smile. I tried to suppress it, but there was something about this girl that made me want to laugh and smile with her. Her positive attitude was infectious, her voice like music. If I didn't know better I'd say she was almost magical.

"Come with me" I said, turning on my heal, quickly mapping out in my mind the quickest route to the blandly-named "City Park". It's a park, in the city, what will we call it? How about "City Park"? Seriously.

I begun to walk, and I felt her follow me, her footsteps padding along against the pavement. I knew exactly where I was going, but I was walking slower than usual, to allow her to keep up with me. For a while I kept walking at the same pace, with her lagging just behind me, but about 10 minutes into the walk I heard her footsteps quicken, and she was suddenly walking by my side, still with that smile on her face. I tried hard to stop my face from going red again when I saw her.

"So," she said to me, "you know this area well?"

"Yeah", I said, trying to keep my eyes off her, and failing miserably at that,

"I live in this city" I continued, for no reason other than to not sound rude.

"I see" she said, and then she looked away, right into the sky, in a pose that I myself had adopted just before I ran into her.

"I haven't come here often" she went on, "and don't know my way around very well. It's a big city after all"

"Yeah" I replied again, stopping as we came to an intersection on the street. Cars were rushing past, there wouldn't be a break in traffic for ages at this rate. We wouldn't be able to take the route I wanted.

"If we follow this way we won't get to City Park anytime soon" I said to her.

"Oh" she said, lowering her head. She seemed not only slightly upset, but also somewhat anxious about that.

Damn it. I just met this girl but for some reason I felt that I didn't want to let her down. I was going to get her to that park, and I was going to get her there quickly.

Closing my eyes I imagined all the routes to the park. I mentally crossed out the one we were currently on. I soon judged two more to be too long, and decided against taking her through an active construction yard.

None of these would work! Conventional paths were no good. Fine. In that case:

"Screw this" I said, and she looked up at me, "follow me, I'll take you through a short-cut".

She nodded, "okay, let's go" she said with that smile of hers.

I turned left and continued along the path, once again with her by my side. When we reached a building I pointed to an alleyway,

"Through here" I said, inclining my head.

She followed me. After we were through that I continued to direct her through a maze largely unused pathways, until we reached a high fence. I pointed to a hole right at the bottom of it

"Crawl through that," I said, "and we'll almost be there"

The girl nodded and dropped to her knees, shuffling forward through the tight gap, I followed suit, close behind her. As soon as we were through I walked her up through several bushes, breaking off branches so they wouldn't scratch her.

After we were through the little "forest" of shrubbery, we came out in the very centre of City Park.

"Here we are" I said, smiling with satisfaction.

"Thank you!" she said, smiling once again, "I never would have found it without my friend, so I'm really, really grateful!"

She looked completely overjoyed that she had reached here. My work done, I turned and begun to leave, when she spoke to me again

"Um, excuse me, but, can I ask your name?"

I shrugged my shoulders and half-turned back to her,

"Arthur" I said, "Arthur Kingston".

She nodded,

"I'm Nanoha" she said, "Nanoha Takamachi." "Pleased to meet you, Arthur" she finished.

I gave one last smile. Three smiles in one day, that was rare for me.

"I hope I meet you again" she called out.

"Yeah" I said. With that I turned away, and walked. I couldn't resist looking back one last time, to see her happily walking away, presumably to do whatever she came here for.

When I walked through the door of my house, the sky was already dark. I had taken a lot longer than I expected.

My mother turned around as I walked into the kitchen

"Your late home today" she said. Way to state the obvious Mum.

"Yeah, something came up" I replied

"So how was your day" she asked.

I sighed happily as I unpacked my school bag, I wondered how I should describe the day I had had. Then the right word popped into my mind. A delightfully appropriate and just slightly ironic word:

"Inspiring" I said.

Three Years Later

My teacher stood next to my desk. In his hand he held several sheets of paper: my report on life in the middle ages.

"I know you didn't try on this" he said to me, with clear distain.

I smirked, my bored state evident.

"And?" I replied, my tone almost mocking him, but not quite. Nothing I could get in trouble for, but enough to drive my poor teacher to insanity.

He slammed the paper down on my desk. In big red marker on the front page was my grade.

"**A**"

My smirk lingered for a moment, before I collected my report, filing it neatly away.

"You might think you do really well _now_" my teacher fumed, "but when you get into the real world, it's gonna be a lot different!" "a _lot_ different".

I closed my eyes. Could I get any more bored? Unless something interesting happened, I could not foresee myself leaving this melancholic state anytime soon.

The teacher had stormed off to his desk. I could feel the eyes of the other students on me. Honestly couldn't they look somewhere else? Oh well. It was the same as always. Everything was. Same friends, same grades, same effort, same life.

The bell rang, and the students all begun to pile out of the classroom. I lingered behind to avoid the crowds. One of my friends, Aaron Julesburg, came over to me.

"Hey Arthur" he said. My eyes looked him over once. Everything about him was the same as usual.

"Hey" I said, trying to lift my tone and failing.

"You scored high on the paper then" he grinned at me.

I stood from my desk, slinging my bag over my shoulder. I close my eyes as I fossicked around in my jacket pocket for my music player.

"A" I grunted in reply as I finally found it.

"Wow!" Aaron said, "I only got a B minus".

"Well" I said, desperately trying to become interested, and failing. "Maybe try harder next time?"

"Easy for you to say" Aaron laughed, "You never try right?"

I pulled my music player from my pocket, and frowned when I saw it had become tangled with my keys, I begun to unwind the headphones from my overladen key ring, as I remembered Aaron had asked me a question.

"I don't try because the assignments aren't worth it for me" I explained, "It's not that I don't want to try, I'm just…" I trailed off as my mind started to drag up old memories.

"Just what?" Aaron prompted.

I looked at him properly for the first time. When my eyes made contact with his, he looked a little surprised, as if he hadn't expected me to look his way at all.

"Just, uninspired" I said.

I walked out of the classroom, Aaron following next to me. I intended to head home. There was nothing else to do.

"Hey", Aaron was talking again. That was going to get annoying sooner or later.

"Yeah?" I said, not even bothering to try and sound interested.

"Want to come to my house and play some video games" Aaron finished.

"Yeah, why not" I said. Things couldn't get any _more_ boring. Maybe I could lose myself in the fantasy world of one of Aaron's many RPGs or something. It was worth a shot.

Aaron was apparently happy with my response because he was grinning again. He started talking, but my brain filtered his words out while other thoughts occupied my mind. I satisfied the requirements for conversation with the occasional nod or grunt of acknowledgment.

As we walked out of the iron front gates of the school my thoughts ran over my future. I had no real idea what I wanted to do. I guess something in the film industry might work. Special effects in movies kind of intrigued me, so maybe animation or something like that? My grades were good enough to mean I could go into any area of work I wanted to, I just had to finish the laborious years of school. Yeah… that wasn't going to happen any time soon. They say time flies when you're having fun. But I haven't had any real fun in ages.

That wasn't likely to change either, I thought to myself as I walked on the grassy path alongside Aaron. I was condemned to follow the same pattern of life for many more years, before anything amusing was to happen.

I stared off into the distance. Aaron appeared to have stopped talking, so there was some improvement there.

As my thoughts drifted back to the real world, I found myself suddenly once again aware of my surroundings. There weren't many people around, just me and Aaron and three girls talking on the other side of the road.

Three girls? Why did I keep looking at them?

Something was familiar about them. I stopped, squinting to get a good look at them.

Aaron stoped just a few steps ahead, he looked at me, and then over to the three girls, he gave a smile and nudged me with his elbow.

"Oh" he said, trying a playful tone that wasn't going to make any difference, "see something you like do you?"

"Quiet" I said, shutting down his remarks with my sharp tone.

My brain kicked into action as I tried to focus on what was familiar about these girls.

One was blonde-haired and seemed to be talking the most. The one on the other side was a purple haired girl who didn't seem to be talking a lot at all. Neither of them matched anything in my memories. I dismissed them and looked to the girl in the middle. She was brown haired, with it styled in two small pigtails on either side.

Two small pigtails… on each side. The memories came flooding. Three years ago but still as clear as ever in my mind, the girl I had run into on the street. The only girl that had ever seemed remotely interesting to me - No, not just that, the only _human_ that had ever really interested me.

I whispered the name to myself, just under my breath:

"Nanoha Takamachi"

"Huh?" Aaron said, but I was ignoring him. I was already moving. I had to talk to her. I _wanted_ to talk to her. That was rare, for me to want to talk to anyone. What was going on? Oh well, it didn't matter. I was going to talk to her.

I started to walk to her, my pace quick. Aaron couldn't keep up, I left him behind. Aaron was a good friend but he was ordinary. I needed to be inspired. I needed that feeling from three years ago.

As I got closer I called out to her

"Nanoha!" my voice much louder than usual

She turned around, and I saw her face properly. It was definitely her and she was as beautiful as she had been three years ago.

Her friends, the other girls, looked surprised at my arrival, as I skidded from my running pace to a halt in front of Nanoha. I ignored them. They were irrelevant. I didn't want to see them.

"Your Nanoha Takamachi right?" I asked, even though I was certain of her identity.

"Y-yes" she said, studying me closely. She only took a moment, and then she smiled that brilliant smile of hers.

"Arthur!" she said happily, "it's you!"

"Clearly" I said, my tone board but like the last time, I couldn't help myself, I smiled, just like her.

Nanoha gave a laugh, "It's been a long time hasn't it?"

"Three years" I said. Why were my answers always so short when it came to her?

The blonde girl next to Nanoha spoke up. She had a nice yet obnoxious voice as she barked at me.

"Hey who are you anyway?" She was looking me up and down, and somewhat had an air of contempt about her.

Though I would have delightedly pestered her with vague answers and frustrating remarks, if she was Nanoha's friend I didn't really want to upset her.

I opened my mouth to answer, but Nanoha herself spoke up first

"Ah, Arisa, Suzuka, this is Arthur, I met him three years ago." She explained. So her friends names were Arisa and Suzuka. Good to know

"Hi" I said, holding my hand up

"Arthur was very kind to me, but I haven't seen him in a long time" Nanoha finished.

"Pleased to meet you" said the purple haired girl, shaking my hand, "I'm Suzuka, Nanoha's friend" she smiled at me. I smiled back at her, and looked to the blonde friend.

"I'm Arisa" she said, and looked away. Nanoha laughed.

Finally Aaron caught up to us

"Hey Arthur" he said to me, panting slightly from running

"Oh, is this your friend?" Nanoha asked me.

With a glance at Aaron I answered her,

"Yeah."

"Nice to meet you" Nanoha said to him, "I'm Nanoha Takamachi, and you're?"

Aaron instantly crossed his arms and tried to look "cool". He failed miserably.

"I'm Aaron Julesburg" he said, "It's nice to meet you girls too"

Arisa gave him the same contempt-filled look she had given me moments earlier,

"Only Nanoha said it was nice to meet you" she said, with a self satisfied nod.

Suzuka seemed nice, but I could tell Arisa might get a bit frustrating, oh well. For the sake of learning more about Nanoha I would take that.

"So" I said, speaking to Nanoha once again, "I'm kinda busy now, but would you like to see me again tomorrow, on Saturday?"

She looked away for a moment, she was thinking.

"Mm!" she said with a nod, "sure"

I grinned, the first time I had done so in over 6 months

"Let's meet at City Park then" I smiled at the though. The perfect meeting spot, picking up where we had left off three years ago.

"Mm!" Nanoha nodded again

"Great" I mused, "see you then"

I begun walking away from them when I realised that Aaron was still standing back near where we had been, his face filled with confusion.

"Come on Aaron" I called, without turning around.

"R-right!" he stuttered and ran after me.

"Dude did you just ask her out?" Aaron asked after a few more minutes of walking in silence.

"No" I replied, my regular bored tone having returned.

"But you told her to meet you in the park tomorrow, and she said yes!" Aaron was excited, I couldn't figure out why.

"Man, I didn't know you were popular with girls" he said shaking his head.

"I'm not" I sighed. If Aaron kept going on like this I was going to get frustrated quicker than usual.

Aaron started to go on again but I cut him off,

"I met her three years ago, okay?" I said tiredly, "We got along back then and I'm sure we're still gonna get along now, that's why I want to meet her tomorrow"

Aaron nodded, slightly startled at my snappy response. By now we had reached his house, and made our way into the living room.

"Now," I looked over to Aaron's gaming consoles, "what are we playing first?"

Even though I spent the afternoon playing through Aaron's superb selection of games, my mind was elsewhere. I could finally be inspired again and I couldn't wait. The feeling of excitement was so alien to me I almost didn't recognise it when it flooded through me. Tomorrow couldn't get here soon enough.

When I woke up the next day, it was 7:00AM. Damn! That was early, but I knew why. I was eager to get out, to meet her.

I clambered out of my bed to the bathroom, stripping off my pyjamas and running the hot water of the shower, I stepped into the pounding stream.

Warmth filled my body, banishing the cold of the morning. I put my head against the wall, letting the water hit my back as I contemplated the day to come.

I was going to see her, Nanoha Takamachi, the girl that inspired me, not by any action she did, or any words she said, but just with her nature. Such a thing I had thought would be impossible, but she had done it. From one brief meeting three years ago, _I_, Arthur Kingston, the most bored boy on the planet, had become inspired by just a little girl. I needed to find out more about her, my mind was made up; I had to get to know this girl, and it would start today.

After I had showered I retreated back to my room to dress. Something nice looking, smart, confident… well that would be any of my clothes.

I went for a black shirt, with the collar open, dark grey jeans and my grey hooded jumper. No need to look too fancy, just appropriate. I snapped my watch onto my wrist, slipped my glasses over my eyes, flicked my cell-phone into my pocket and glanced at myself in the mirror one last time. Satisfied with my appearance I walked out my front door. Since my mother had picked a _Saturday _of all days to take some extra work at her office I would have to walk to City Park. No big deal but it was an extra effort that could be better spent somewhere else.

With my headphones in, and music pumping, I made the journey along the packed streets. It had been like this the day I met her, and I was going to the same destination as I had taken her that day. Everything fit so well.

I rounded the corner and came to the crossing. As the cars whizzed past, I caught glimpses of myself in their windows. I don't know why but for some reason I cared about my appearance today. Well I always cared that I looked reasonable, but usually I didn't mind if I, in the words of my mother, "created a fashion disaster".

Walking up the last path before the Park I thought about what might happen today, but I found it impossible to predict all the outcomes, so I decided just to allow it to play out, without even the hint of a plan. Rare for me, but oh well.

I walked through the large iron gates of the park, stepping into the shade of the overhanging trees. Children ran around, playing happily under the watchful eyes of their parents, most of who sat at the various benches that dotted the wide area, though some were perched on picnic rugs or fold out chairs on the grass. I glanced around, scanning the area for the one I came to see.

I spied her over by a tall tree, her small pigtails blowing slightly in the gentle breeze. As I walked toward her, for some reason I noticed what she was wearing: a frilly orange skirt, black t-shirt and a high collared yellow parker. Why did I notice that?

"Nanoha!" I called out as I continued to move,

She looked around, her wide purple eyes meeting my own as she smiled

"Ah, Arthur!" she called back, with a wave of her arm.

I put my hands in my pockets as I stepped in front of her. Once again I noticed the pink jewel on the cord around her neck, glistening in the light. I itched to ask her about it, to find out what it was and why she had it. But I couldn't, it was likely just some bauble that held a sentimental value to her. I would rather find out about _her_.

"Arthur?" I snapped out of my trance. Nanoha was talking to me and I wanted to hear what she had to say

"Yeah?" I replied. Why did I always wind up saying that around her?

"I asked if you wanted to go somewhere else" She said happily, "are you feeling alright?" her smile turned into a slightly worried expression

"I'm fine" I said, not wanting to worry her, "I sometimes space out when I'm thinking is all"

"I see" she said, smiling again. As usual her smile infected me, I couldn't keep my own happy expression from showing.

Then it occurred to me. Why _should_ I keep myself from looking happy? The bored expression I was famous for wasn't a part of any "image". It was a real look of boredom. So when I'm finally not bored, why shouldn't I show it!

My eyes widened, I smiled. Warmth filled up inside me. Happiness flooded my being. My negative thoughts were washed away in one great wave. A little girl could do all of this? What _was_ this feeling?

I pushed the questions away and just focused on one thing, my new found happiness.

"Let's go!" I said eagerly, grabbing her hand. Her skin was soft and smooth. I had expected it would be, but it was still somewhat surprising.

Actually what surprised me wasn't how nice her hand felt, or even the fact that I had grabbed her hand on impulse and was now running across the park with her.

It was the fact that she had let me, she was running _with _me. Her laughter rang through my ears. I didn't know where we were going and I didn't care

When I finally stopped we were standing by a pond, with ducks lazily swimming across it. I had no idea this place even existed. How did we get here?

"Wow" Nanoha said, letting go of my hand and leaning over the pond. "I didn't know there was a place like this here"

"Neither did I" I said, still wondering how exactly I had managed to get us here.

Looking around I quickly evaluated my surroundings and drew a map inside my mind. Good to remember places you discover, they might be useful later.

Nanoha put her hands behind her back and turned to me smiling. She let out a short laugh, and when I heard it I laughed to.

"So," I said walking forwards, "tell me about yourself Nanoha"

"huh? She said, pointing to herself, "me?"

I nodded.

"Yes" I said, "I want to know about you, all about you!" my voice was rising, I was getting more and more exited just by being around her. It was so amazing, and that amazement fed the excitement, which fed the amazement, a never ending cycle.

"I'm not that interesting" Nanoha laughed, "there's not much to know".

She looked away when she said that, as if she was hiding something, but I didn't care. I stepped closer,

"You are!" I said confidently, "you can turn me into this!" I smiled, "I don't know why but you inspire me!"

Nanoha laughed again,

"You seem like an interesting person, Arthur" she said, "if I tell you about me, will you tell me all about you?"

"Of course I will" I replied. In truth I really _wouldn't_ be that interesting for her, but no matter.

"Alright" Nanoha smiled again, that fantastic, glowing smile, "I'll tell you about me"

We walked through the park, and she spoke as we did. She was the youngest member of her family. 5 people, including her, her older brother and sister, their mother and father. They owned a little café, _Midoriya, _in the middle of the shopping district. I would have to visit sometime. Apparently it was a favourite "after-school hangout", I had never bothered with those, so it wasn't a real surprise that I hadn't heard of it.

She was right, her life wasn't really that interesting, but I listen intently. It didn't matter, she herself was interesting simply by existing.

We walked as we talked, and soon enough we had left the park and were wandering around the town, exploiting my internal map of the entire city to the absolute fullest, finding every little nook and cranny, hidden spots no one ever went, spots of absolute peace, where I listened to Nanoha tell me stories about her family, her school life, funny experiences on vacations and other various things.

She finally finished her last tale, giggling with her light laughter as she did.

"That's about it" she said, looking to me happily, "what about you Arthur?"

"Me?" I said, gazing into the sky as I continued to walk alongside her, "well If you really want to know…" I began. Her smile encouraged me to continue, and so I went on, explaining to her how I was an only child, how I got good grades and from a young age had acquired a thirst for knowledge so great that I had been satisfying it with books and documentaries long before I started school. I told her about how I had been feeling bored and uninspired, how every day had gradually been blending into one in my memory. I confessed about how I had few friends, and the ones I had usually annoyed me more than refreshed me. I even told her about the science fiction stories I wrote when I couldn't sleep of a night. I thought I must have been boring her, but every time I looked to her, her face was glowing with amusement and delight. I couldn't believe that someone would take that much interest in me.

When I had finished telling her about myself, we kept talking about other things, comparing grades and favourite pastimes, TV programs and other things. We were laughing, smiling. I had never been like this with any friend before. Nanoha was amazing, there was no denying that, amazing as well as kind and beautiful. In other words, she seemed perfect.

I had long abandoned the idea that any human being could possibly be perfect, not even myself. Yet here, I seemed to have found one. I didn't really understand it, but I was happier now than I had ever been in my life.

As we walked down the street, we passed the annoying man in his ice-cream stall. I really hated this guy, he always gave me weird looks that were supposed to entice me into buying his ice-cream on my way home. I tried to ignore him as we passed, but Nanoha had stopped as was gazing at the multitude of ice-creams.

"Wow!" she said, her eyes sparkling, "look at all the flavours Arthur!"

She gave me her gorgeous smile and rummaged around in her small bag, pulling out her purse and opening it. There apparently wasn't much in there though, as her expression fell.

I drew my own wallet out from my back pocket, flipping it open. With a sigh I walked over to the vendor, narrowing my eyes at his annoying smile.

"What ice-cream flavour do you like?" I asked her, smiling even though I could feel the frustratingly happy gaze of the ice-cream vendor upon me.

Nanoha's face lit up again, she put her finger to her mouth and considered, glancing over the array of ice-cream.

"umm" she said, looking closer, "I'll have.."

She suddenly looked around at me, put her hands behind her back and smiled.

"Strawberry!" she chirped.

I raised an eyebrow. That particular flavour seemed to fit her almost too well.

I turned to the detestable vendor, and extracted a ten dollar note from my wallet,

"I'll take a strawberry and a extra-creamy caramel please" I said, trying to keep my voice polite.

"Why certainly young man!" said the vendor. Yep, his voice was as annoying as I thought it would be.

He made an irritatingly elaborate show of scooping up the ice-cream into the cones, then handed them to us.

"Thank you!" Nanoha said, her mannerisms ever-pleasant.

"Thanks" I replied, my voice slipping back into my usual degrading tone for the first time that day.

We left the store, and as we continued down the road, I couldn't help but watch Nanoha lick away at her ice-cream. For some reason watching her small tongue emerge from her mouth and run along the pink ice-cream made me blush. I looked away, but she had already noticed.

"What are you look at Arthur, is there something on my face?" she asked, tilting her head to one side.

"No" I said, biting into my ice-cream, "you just, look nice today"

Nanoha went a little red when I said that, looked away for a moment, and then looked back

"Thank you" she said, happily.

I wasn't exactly lying either. She _did_ look nice today, but Nanoha looked nice every day. She was genuinely beautiful, the only person I knew who was.

After 4 hours of laughter, smiles and genuine fun, Nanoha I stood at the intersection. It was time for us to part.

"That," I said, grinning like a madman, "was brilliant!"  
>"Mm!" Nanoha said with a nod, "I had fun!" "You're a nice person Arthur, I'm glad we met again"<p>

"Me too" I said, "more glad than you could know"

"I'll see you again then?" she asked.

I laughed

"Yeah". I said.

"Great, then, bye Arthur!" She said, and walked away from me.

When she was out of ear range I couldn't contain myself anymore.

I leapt high in the air, pumping my fist in triumph.

"YES!" I screamed. I could feel emotion in my body. Inspiration overloaded my mind. I felt like I could even put effort into my school work now! I felt amazing.

Four Months Later

I stood at the front of the stage, in the school hall. The principal stood on a podium to my left, making a speech about my high achievement level. On the lapel of my uniform was the "honour badge", a shining metal pin of my schools emblem, given only to the top grade students. Only four other students wore this pin, and now I was one of them.

I was probably the best one of all those students as well. Four different, highly prestigious collages had already offered me complete scholarships, with rumours that a fifth would be approaching me within the month. I was the hot-topic of conversation of boardrooms and school meetings all around the country

Perhaps I should explain.

After my Saturday with Nanoha four months ago I had been overwhelmed with inspiration. Spending the day with her had motivated me to do so much that I had never considered before. The first thing I did was put in a huge effort into my outstanding school work. I wrote well above the minimum word-requirements…. 30 pages above it to be exact. Of course I scored the highest grade in the school for that. My teacher was completely bewildered. It didn't stop there either, since I started to see Nanoha more and more after school and on weekends as well, and becoming better and better friends with her. We shared secrets, desires, fears and worries.

And as my friendship with her grew, so did my outlook on life. I tried harder at school, and was having a lot more fun. Nanoha had changed me, I had a lot to thank her for.

I had also developed friendship with _her_ friends, even mouthy Arisa had grown on me. I had also met Yuuno, an interesting young boy who was kind of awkward, but had a kind nature and seemed quite intelligent.

And so, with my new friends and new lifestyle, my full potential was emerging for the first time. I had found joy in my studies, looking forward to a bright future.

I stepped down from the stage, amongst genuine applause, a few taunts thrown by unintelligent members of the football team, false smiles from fake-looking girls and the admiring eyes of the teachers. I had become a model student, and now I was being recognised. This pin upon my lapel was, to me, the physical embodiment of my changed life. I was proud of myself.

The bell went, signalling the end of classes. I gathered my books and shoved them into my bag, slinging it over my shoulder. I knew where I was going and I couldn't wait to get there.

"Hey, Arthur!" A voice called out to me. A familiar voice, too familiar, and one I did not really want to hear right now.

I turned to see Aaron, stumbling up to me.

"Congratulations!" he said, seizing my hand and shaking it, "highest honour in the school!"

"Yeah" I said, gingerly extracting my palm from his grasp.

"So have you decided which collage you'll go to yet?" Aaron asked enthusiastically.

I sighed. I might have a brand new outlook on life, but things themselves had not changed, and Aaron was still the same as he had been earlier on in the year.

"No, I have not" I said, "I'm still waiting for an offer from another one"

Aaron almost fell over when I said that

"A-_Another one!_" he spluttered, "That's amazing"

"I am amazing" I said to him as I walked away. Of course he followed me. I really hoped he didn't follow me all the way.

"Hey, why are you so grumpy?" Aaron asked, "You only cheer up when you're around _her_ don't you"

"No" I lied.

"Don't bother lying to me," Aaron said, "You love her don't you?"

My face spontaneously turned red. I would _kill_ Aaron! Wait, why was I getting embarrassed about this?

"N-No!" I stuttered. "Aaron won't you miss your bus if you hang around here any longer?"

"Crap!" Aaron waved me goodbye as he rushed off to catch his bus. With a self-satisfied smile playing across my lips, I walked out, and made my way into the shopping district, heading toward my new favourite after school relaxation spot, the Takamachi-owned café, _Midoriya. _

The bell chimed when I walked through the doors. The few staff that were around instantly turned and smiled when they saw me. I guess I was getting popular around here. That was going to get annoying sooner or later I'm sure but for now, I could enjoy it.

I walked up to the man behind the counter, a man I had met on numerous occasions. The best way to describe him? Nanoha's father.

"Is Nanoha around?" I said causally. I could never be sure whether I entertained or annoyed this man, but I found myself wanting to be on his good side. I did cherish my friendship with his daughter after all.

"Hmmm" he said, thinking for a moment, "she's not here now, but her and her friends will be coming around soon I reckon"  
>"In that case," I said, taking out my wallet and placing down a five-dollar note, "I'll take the usual"<p>

"Carmel slice with whipped cream right?" he said, "coming right up"

I sat at my favourite corner table, breaking through the slice with my fork, scooping up cream and popping it into my mouth.

As I chewed, my thoughts turned to the various collages that I would, sooner or later, have to choose from.

The fifth collage that I was being considered for was much further away. If I was going to go to that one I would have to move. I could stay with relatives yes, that didn't bother me. This particular collage was one of the best in the country, if not _the_ best. If I got offered the scholarship I would hardly be able to turn it down. It would really be great for my future.

But I would be leaving behind Nanoha, the very reason why I had made it so far now. I didn't want to leave her. I wouldn't see her again for a long time if I moved.

My fork scraped the plate. I had finished my slice without even knowing it. I lay back in my chair, still thinking about this when I heard the bell chime as someone entered the store.

I looked up and saw exactly who I wanted to see. Nanoha walked in, looking as beautiful as always. But then I noticed something else, next to her was someone I hadn't met. A pretty girl with blonde hair, tied in twin ponytails, much longer than Nanoha's. She had deep red eyes, and an elegant nature.

Nanoha noticed me right away, and her and the blonde girl came over

"Hello Arthur" she said happily.

"Hey, Nanoha" I said to her, "I was waiting for you"

"Oh did I keep you?" she said softly, "I'm sorry"

"It's fine, don't worry about it" I replied

"Oh, right!" She said, and gestured to the blonde girl next to her, "this is Fate" she said, "she's my friend"

"Oh" I said, lazily extending my hand toward Fate,

"Arthur Kingston" I said, "Pleased to meet you Fate"

Fate shook my hand.

"Fate Testarossa," she said, "Nice to meet you." She had a velvety voice. Not sweet like Nanoha's, but not bitter either. Mysterious almost.

Fate turned away from me, and spoke to Nanoha,

"Nanoha, I have to be going,"

Nanoha nodded

"Mm" she said, "I'll talk to you soon Fate"

Fate gave me one last look then walked out. She seemed interesting, but what I was more interested in was the way Nanoha was fidgeting around

"Arthur," she said, looking right at me

"Yeah?" I replied with no idea what she wanted

"Can you come with me?" she asked, "I have something to show you, but it's a really, _really_ big secret."

That was surprising. Me and Nanoha had become so close over this short amount of time that it had never occurred to me that she might be keeping a secret. Well we all have those, and of course it was her right to keep as many as she wanted. I wondered what it might be, as I stood up to walk with her.

Nanoha didn't say anything as she led me away, and so we walked in silence. We walked for over 15 minutes until we came to a highly secluded place, near a rushing river.

"I really trust you Arthur" she said, "so I want to show you something about me that I haven't show many people, not even Arisa and Suzuka know"

"Okay…" I replied. What exactly _was _she going to do.

"Please try to keep quiet okay?" Nanoha whispered to me.

She stepped back from me, and her fingers reached up and took the pink jewel that hung from her neck. So there really _was_ a secret behind that gleaming object!

"Raising Heart" Nanoha said, "please"

I didn't really understand, she seemed to be talking to the jewel.

And then I got the shock of my life

"Alright, My Master" With a chiming mechanical voice, the jewel… spoke back!

As it spoke, it flashed. But even the shock of seeing a talking jewel was nothing compared to what was coming. What happened next would leave me speechless.

Nanoha was surrounded in a pink glow, emitted from that jewel, she hovered in the air, and she spun around gracefully, her eyes closes.

Her clothes vanished in a glow of pink light, with a strange sound accompanying their disappearance, leaving her only in her striped underwear. I felt myself go completely red and tried to avert my eyes.

And then even her bra and panties were whisked away by the strange light. Hovering before me was a completely naked Nanoha. I tried not to look, squinting my eyes, looking away. My face was redder than it had ever been.

The little pink jewel had grown larger somehow as well, and several other things appeared around it. They begun joining together, forming a more defined shape. They became a long staff, comprised of white and gold metallic segments. Toward the top there was an elegant section, like a letter C. The pink jewel had become attached in the centre of that section. There was also a part that looked like a machine-gun's magazine plugged into it below the top section.

Nanoha grabbed the staff in her hand, and threads of light sprung out from it, wrapping around her. After her body was surrounded in that, it seemed safe to open my eyes all the way again.

The light vanished, section by section, leaving behind new clothes on Nanoha. A blue, red and white outfit, comprised of, among other things, a white and blue skirt that flared out wide, an identical coloured jacket that wrapped around her, and a big red bow tied just below her collar.

When the glow faded, Nanoha dropped to the ground, swinging the staff out, and striking an absurdly cool-looking pose.

I could not believe my eyes. I was dreaming. I had to be dreaming. Wake up! I commanded my body.

Wake up!

The words burst from my lips:

"_WAKE UP"_

Nanoha's eyes widened.

"Shhh!" she said, clapping her hand over my mouth

I was still staring. Some part of my mind dimly noted that the sensation of her hand pressing against my lips was rather pleasant, but I ignored it and continued ordering myself to wake up.

"Calm down!" Nanoha said hurriedly, "Calm down Arthur, you're not dreaming!"

My mind was processing this… well if I wasn't dreaming then… what the _**HELL**_ just happened?

I tried to speak, but Nanoha still had my mouth firmly held shut

"Mmmmph, mmph" was all I managed

"Just don't be too loud okay?" she said, and took her hand away.

"What, what," I couldn't get the words out, yet somehow I forced myself.

"What _is going on!_"

Nanoha slowly explained to me. She was, for want of a much better term, a "Magical Girl". What she had just used wasn't really magic, although that's what "they" called it. It was a program executed by feeding the appropriate device, the jewel around her neck, Raising Heart – which had now become the staff in her hand -, with magical power that existed inside everyone. It was magic, and it was science, one in the same, a concept that was absolutely remarkable. It was apparently impossible for technology of this world; it was from another world, across the dimensional space. I definitely understood the concepts, but it was still a lot to take in.

However, it could not be denied, I had seen it now. Nanoha had shown me her biggest secret. She trusted me that much.

Nanoha explained to me how she had become like this. How Yuuno, the young-boy I had met, was from the world that had created the technology, which had become widespread throughout other words. Yuuno had been hunting something called "Jewel Seeds" when he had found himself out of power in this world. He gave his "Device", Raising Heart, to Nanoha and had shape shifted into a ferret for some reason.

It was all highly unbelievable, but since I had been presented with indisputable evidence, and since I trusted Nanoha, I did believe it.

Fate had been an enemy to Nanoha as well. It turned out Fate was an experiment by an insane woman to revive her dead daughter. Though circumstance and chance, Fate had become Nanoha's ally.

I listened intently as Nanoha spoke of inter-dimensional spaceships and the battles she had fought. Apparently she was currently reluctantly fighting against some weird people who were trying to fill something called "The Book of Darkness". I didn't even want to know about that. It sounded frightening.

It went on for about an hour, but Nanoha eventually finished her tale. I had also finally wrapped my mind around enough of the concepts to speak.

"I'm not gonna lie, that sounded pretty cool"

"I guess it would" Nanoha said, "but I don't want to be fighting all the time."

"Yeah," I said, "it might sound cool, but I don't think I would want to get caught up in it.

"Well if you did," Nanoha said, smiling at me, "I'd protect you"

My heart starts to beat faster, and I found myself turning red again.

"T-thanks" I said to her. I hurriedly changed the subject, "so, you've been fighting and using your magical powers a lot right?"

"Mm" Nanoha nodded

I smiled and jumped to my feet.

"Show me" I said, slowly grinning wide.

Nanoha got up, gripping Raising Heart tightly.

"Alright," she said, "but nothing big, not here…"

I nodded.

Nanoha pointed her staff out in front of her.

The spherical centre of Raising Heart, that had once been the small jewel around Nanoha's neck, flashed as its computerized voice spoke again

"Accel Shooter" it said.

Underneath her feet, a intricate circle formed, filled with strange symbols. The circle rotated and slowly spun. I guessed this was normal because Nanoha didn't react to it at all

A part on the staff, above where the "Magazine" was plugged in, slid back and forth with a powerful sound, not unlike a shotgun being primed. Steam poured out for just a moment before it stopped.

Several pink glowing spheres of energy appeared around her, three of them. One on her left, one on her right, and one over her head.

Nanoha thrust her staff forwards,

"Shoot!" she cried out.

The spheres blasted forward, converging on the point Raising Heart was pointed at. They hit the water, causing it to splash up in white streams as a large hole was blown in the side of the river.

From where the sliding section had been a small cylinder was discharged and fell to the ground.

"I thought you were keeping it quiet!" I said looking around franticly, before bending down to pick up the object.

"I overdid it a little" Nanoha rubbed the back of her head and smiled.

"That was amazing"

"That's Accel Shooter" she said, "it's a basic spell,"

I held up the small cylinder. It looked not unlike a shotgun shell.

"What's this" I said

"That's a magical cartridge" Nanoha explained, "it boosts my spells with Magical Power." "It's a new addition, I'm still getting used to it." She laughed.

"My Master will improve." "Your grasp of the new system is adequate already" chimed the orb of Raising Heart, its deep red orb flashing as it said the words.

"You are the most amazing person I've ever met" I said, as calmly as I could.

Nanoha smiled and lowered her staff. She laughed.

"I can trust you to keep it a secret right?"

I nodded:

"Of course" I said, probably a little louder than necessary, "I'll keep your secret forever!" I grabbed her hands, lifting them up, "I swear on my existence" I declared.

Nanoha blushed a little when I took her hands, but nodded, her glowing smile spreading across her face.

"Thank you Arthur!" she said.

I let go of her hands and looked around.

"So what else can you do?" I asked

Nanoha smiled at me again, and held up her staff

"Accel Fin" flashed Raising Heart.

Small, glowing feathers of pink energy formed around Nanoha's soles, flowing together to become a set of pink wings on her feet. She rose into the air, hovering a few feet above me.

"Fly" she called down to me.

My door dropped. I begun to tremble with excitement. That was it, the last straw, Nanoha was too amazing, too brilliant. She was magical, in so many ways.

She floated to the ground, and gave me a strange look as the little wings dissipated into pink particles.

"Arthur?" She said, tilting her head, "are you alright?"

I just blinked. I couldn't talk.

"uuuh" Nanoha looked around, "Arthur?"

"You're, you're, you're…" I stuttered, and then collapsed.

"Ahh!" Nanoha rushed over, "Arthur be careful"

I just smiled widely from my postion laying on the wet grass.

Nanoha begun to glow all over with pink energy, and when it faded away, she was back in her normal clothes. The staff form of Raising Heart became again the tiny pink sphere it once was in a flash of the same light.

"Arthur!" Nanoha shook me, "get a hold of yourself" she said worriedly.

"I'm fine…" I said, pushing myself into an upright position, "I've just witnessed my friend use technology from another world to give herself magical powers, but I'm fine" I said, trying to go for sarcasm but failing.

"Did I maybe show you too much?" Nanoha asked, "I'm sorry"

"No" I said, staggering to my feet, Nanoha's arm supporting me as I did.

I smiled at her, the same inspiration as I always had when I was with her was increased tenfold. Magical, Nanoha was magical!

"Nanoha," I said to her, "I'll keep your secret, you're my friend, so please, _please_ show me more of your magic, and tell me more of your stories when you can"

Nanoha nodded with her fantastic smile,

"Sure!" she said

"I have to go home," I said to her. Without looking I knew I would have to get home so I could finish my homework, it would only take me a few hours, but after being with Nanoha, my work output always increased. I had proven to myself that projects I did after I met with her were over 50% greater than projects I did without seeing her on those days. Well, my work output was always extremely high anyway, but it helped to be better.

"I'll walk with you" Nanoha said, stepping beside me as I strolled away.

"Alright, if it's not troubling for you" I said. Of course, I wanted her to walk with me, I loved it when she was with me. Ecstasy and inspiration just seemed to fill me when she was around.

We walked onto the main street, and Nanoha spoke up again,

"Hey, Arthur," she said, her tone inquisitive, "what's with that badge?"

I glanced down at my lapel, my honour badge was glinting in the light, my fingers subconsciously reached and touched it.

"This," I said to her, "this is my honour badge" I explained, "it's only given to the top achievers in my school, I'm the latest one to get it"

"Wow!" Nanoha said, "I knew you were smart, but…" Nanoha looked at the badge again.

"They say," I continued, looking to the sky "that anyone that wears this badge is guaranteed the greatest education"

Nanoha nodded, so I continued on

"I've been offered four different scholarships to collages, and I'm waiting on a fifth one"

"Arthur that's amazing!" Nanoha chirped, "I've never even heard of someone with that many offers"

"I'm not amazing, and it's not amazing." I said, looking over to her, "you're magical, you use technology from another world to fight, you can fly, you have a talking necklace that becomes your weapon, you are the amazing one" I said.

"Well, those things are true but, I don't think I'm that good" Nanoha laughed as she skited around my compliments.

We finally reached the last street before my house, I stopped and turned around to face her

"Here's where I leave, I'll be sure to come around to _Midoriya_ tomorrow okay?"

"Mm!" Nanoha nodded.

"Show me more magic" I said quietly, my voice trembling with the thought of seeing more of Nanoha's power.

"Alright, but we'll have to go somewhere else" Nanoha said.

"Well, I'll look forward to it" I said, turning and walking away, giving her a final wave of my hand as I did.

I walked in the door and put my bag down. My mother came up to me almost immediately.

"You got the badge?" She asked

"Naturally" I replied, flicking my uniform's lapel, where the badge was pinned.

"I'm so proud of you!" She said with joy, and then went over to the counter.

"Your day is about to get even better" she said, picking something up

"_I doubt it" _is what I thought to myself. I had just witnessed proof of other worlds, alien technology and magic all at once after all.

She handed me an envelope and I tore it open without much regard for the contents. As my eyes scanned the page, I realised what it was.

It was an offer.

An offer of a scholarship

To the fifth collage.

The best collage in the country, out of the state. They wanted me to come there and study upon completing my current schooling.

Everything would be payed for, including accommodation and airfares. The best education offered to me on a platter. I would have access to the greatest resources', be able to conduct unlimited research. Any career path would open up for me. It was an offer no sane person would refuse.

I spoke with my mother about the collage over dinner. All logical choices were to take the collage offer, and move over there as soon as I graduated.

But did I want to, what about all my friends? My room? My mother? I would miss them wouldn't I?

But I had already been thinking about this earlier, and nothing had changed

What friends? Aaron? I could live without him.

My room? The accommodation they would provide me with was superior in every way to my little bedroom.

My mother? Yes I did love my mother, but she wanted me to take the opportunity as much as I did.

What really held me back? My friends? No, not friends. Friend. One friend.

Nanoha.

The same conclusion as I had reached before.

I would have to leave her behind. I owed everything to her. If I had never run into her on the street, if I had never met her again, become such close friends. I would still be passing classes by handing in work I had put no effort into. I wouldn't have this badge, and I wouldn't have these collage offers.

But I wouldn't get a better opportunity than this. I couldn't turn down the scholarship.

It plagued me all night. Through my shower, my relaxation time at my computer, even as I lay in bed. I knew I would have to make the choice sooner or later. And ultimately, I knew the choice I would make.

The next day's school dragged on and on. I simply couldn't wait for it to end. After all, I was going to get to see more of Nanoha's magic today.

After the bell went, I eluded Aaron and walked to _Midoriya_.

As I walked in the door, I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked around.

A girl not much taller than me, with dark hair and glasses was standing there. Nanoha's sister, Miyuki Takamachi.

"Arthur right?" she said to me, even though we had met before.

"Yes" I said, subtly moving away so her hand left my shoulder.

"Nanoha's waiting for you, don't keep her much longer okay?"

"Of course not" I replied smoothly. It wasn't that I didn't like Miyuki, I just didn't want to deal with her right now. She was athletic and she trained at the dojo everyday as well, so I really didn't feel like angering her either.

I went to where Nanoha was

"Good afternoon, Arthur!" Nanoha said, her hands clasped at her waist. As usual she was showing her radiant smile.

"Hello" I said, allowing her smile to infect me, my own lips curling upwards into a grin.

"Well then, shall we go?" she asked, and went for the exit.

I followed her. We walked over to the train-station, not far since _Midoriya_ was directly opposite it. We then caught a train out into a wide open countryside. I had told my mother that I would be late home tonight, so we were free to take as much time as we wanted. With soft voices, we talked about what was about to happen.

"I'll show you some bigger moves" Nanoha whispered, "but not my strongest okay?"

"You have a strongest attack?" I said, getting excited. "At least tell me about it!"

"Shhh!" Nanoha said, putting her finger across her lips in an effort to convey the message.

"It's called Starlight Breaker" Nanoha said. What a fantastic name.

Raising Heart begun to flash from its position around Nanoha's neck. Its female-mechanical voice sounded.

"Starlight Breaker is Masters strongest magical assault attack. Its destructive capability is extremely high."

"I first used it against Fate" Nanoha said, seeming to continue on from what Raising Heart had said, "it was the first time I managed to defeat her"

"But if the destructive power is so high, wouldn't that kill her?" I asked

Nanoha smiled and looked out the window.

"Fate's strong" she said, "she was ready to fight again not long after it"

I nodded. I wanted to get to know this Fate girl better soon, she sounded interesting.

"Starlight Breaker uses magical energy that's floating around in the air, as well as my own magic, so it's very powerful, since there's lots of magical energy floating around, especially after a battle"

I nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"But now, I suppose I can use the new cartridge system to supplement the power, I think Starlight Breaker will be even more powerful than ever!" Nanoha smiled.

I sighed with pure happiness, though I had come to terms with the idea of Nanoha being magic, it was still amazing to hear her talk about it like this.

"So what will you show me today?" I asked

"Hmmm" she said, "it's a secret!" she gave me a wink and returned to looking out the window.

My eyes fell upon Raising Heart, and it lit up once, as if it acknowledged my gaze. I looked away and sunk into thought until we arrived.

About half an hour later, we were standing in a lush green meadow. No one around for as far as the eye could see. Nanoha touched Raising Heart, removing it from its small hanger on her necklace.

"Raising Heart," she said, holding it out.

I remembered what had happened last time, specifically Nanoha's clothes vanishing.

"Wait!" I called out, "let me turn my back!"

Nanoha looked a little confused, but I had already turned away.

"Okay, go now!" I shouted

"Oh," Nanoha said, but soon I could hear the strange noises and even from the corner of my eye, I could see the pink light glowing. I heard the strong sounds as Raising Heart's staff components smashed themselves together. At last Nanoha called out.

"I'm done!"

I turned around to see Nanoha in her blue, white, red, black and gold clothes. The "Barrier Jacket" she called it. Her magical outfit.

Raising Heart was now in its staff form, the cartridge system slid back and forth forcefully, loading multiple magic boosters. Steam spilled out in jets.

"So amazing" I said, unable to help myself.

Nanoha smiled, and the large red orb that was the centre of Raising Heart glowed dimly for a moment.

"Want me to show you some more magic?" she asked gently

"Of course!" I said, stepping a little closer to her.

Nanoha smiled again. I always noticed her smiles, every single one. Because they were the most beautiful smiles I had ever seen.

Nanoha pointed Raising Heart into the sky. The pink circle formed underneath her feet again, slowly rotating as usual.

"Raising Heart, Divine Buster" she said.

"Alright" the sphere flashed, "Shooting mode. Set Up"

The "C" shaped top of the staff glowed pink, before it broke away from the main section and started to warp. It reattached itself and the glow faded.

The end had now become an entirely different shape, it now looked like an elongated "U", with one side longer than the other. The red globe of Raising Heart was still in the centre.

"This is Raising Heart's shooting mode" Nanoha explained, "it allows for more powerful, long range magical attacks… like this one"

I nodded and watched. Three pink wings burst into existence around the base of Raising Heart's "tip", just above where the cartridge system was.

Several rings, filled with the same symbols, looped around the end of the staff. One near Nanoha's hand, one large one around the staff's end itself, and a smaller one just forward of that. Pink energy begun to gather at the very tip of the staff, in the centre of the largest ring, gathering into a sphere that wobbled and fluctuated.

"Divine Buster!" Nanoha called, just like she had with her last spell.

A large pink beam shot forward from the sphere of energy that had gathered, shooting through the last ring and blasting up into the sky.

I watched it until the beam dissipated, fading into strings of pink energy and then vanishing all together. The pink wings on Raising Heart disappeared as well.

"Wow!" I whistled, "Impressive"

"It's a bombardment spell" Nanoha said, "I guess it would be one of my primary combat spells"

"Your so cool!" Damn it! Why couldn't I think of anything to say. Whenever I saw Nanoha's magic all I could do was stare in amazement and praise her. Well it was incredible but I wanted to say more.

Nanoha gave me her gorgeous smile again and lowered Raising Heart.

"Want to see more?" she asked

"I want to see all of it" I nodded repeatedly.

Nanoha showed me more spells. She could create shields that took the form of magical circles, the same as the one that formed under her feet as she casted other spells. She could knock the tops off trees, and shoot clusters of magical blasts at once. Several times she had to plug a new "magazine" of cartridges into Raising Heart, because she used it all showing me exactly what she could do.

"This is binding magic" Nanoha said, swinging Raising Heart.

Magical circles appeared on the ground around me, and several tendrils of pink light rose out from them, waving around.

"Those would bind an enemy and prevent them from moving, it's very useful in a combat situation"

"I imagine it would" I said, examining one of the tendrils.

Suddenly they lunged toward me, wrapping around my upper body and pinning my arms to my sides. More curled around my ankles, snapping them together.

I pulled against them but did nothing. I couldn't move.

"Uhh, Nanoha?" I said looking over.

Nanoha had a worried expression on her face,

"I didn't mean to do that!" she said, rushing over.

"Um, could you, help maybe?" I said, still trying to struggle against the spell.

"I'm trying, normally it disables when I want it to" Nanoha said, her purple eyes looking over the bonds.

Nanoha pressed Raising Heart against the tendrils, probably in an attempt to make them disappear, but all that did was offset my balance and I fell down, landing painfully on my back. Still trapped in her binding tendrils, I couldn't even attempt to get up.

Nanoha crouched down next to me, her eyes wide

"Sorry Arthur!" She said, "I'll let you go now"

"Yeah, that would be great" I said

"Raising Heart" Nanoha whispered

"Bind Release" Raising Heart chimed. The tendrils that bound me relaxed, and then vanished.

"You did that on purpose" I said playfully

"I did not" Nanoha retorted, "I'm really sorry!" She apologised and then laughed.

I laughed along with her.

We spent the rest of the day talking, Nanoha telling me more about Mid- Childa, the "world" where the technology and magic were one. Where the Devices like Raising Heart had been created. Nanoha told me about the people she had met form there, their spaceships and headquarters. In return, I told her about the collage that had offered me the scholarship last night. Just like everyone else, Nanoha encouraged me to take it. I didn't tell her why I was so hesitant, but I had a feeling she felt the same way. The look in her eyes, when I said I was leaving. It was a sad look that she tried to hide. She would miss me if I were gone. That made me happy, very happy, since I knew I would miss her.

After Nanoha had shown me all she could, and we had talked for a long time, we both caught the train back into town. We parted ways, promising to meet again tomorrow.

And we did.

Five Years Later

The loud noise of plane engines filled the air, but I was only interested in one. The collage's private jet, sent to pick me up to start my scholarship, and my new education.

I stood, just in-front of the stairs that led into the jet. I could see the luxurious inside. The wind was cold, and I was sure the jet would be warm.

"Arthur," came a sweet sounding voice from behind me. Of course I knew who it was.

I turned around to face the large group, Nanoha was standing at the front. She looked different from when I had first met her. I guessed spending so much time with her these last five years meant I hadn't noticed the changes. But she was taller now, we both were. Her two small pigtails were gone, instead, her brown hair flowed out, framing her face and spilling down her back. She was wearing her high school uniform, because she had come straight from after school to see me off. Her deep purple eyes showed a mixture of happiness and sorrow for my imminent departure. I was sure my eyes showed the same for her.

"Nearly time" I said, smiling gently. Nanoha returned the smile. I'd seen it so often now, but it never lost its radiance. It was still brilliant, even after all these years.

Nanoha nodded slowly.

Aaron stepped up next to her. He looked different too, like all of us he was taller and had a new uniform, he also had acquired a pair of glasses similar to my own.

"Gonna miss you buddy!" He said to me, winking. He extended his fist, this was his latest thing, fist-knocking.

I bumped my own fist against his, Aaron was Aaron, time had not changed him, not like Nanoha had changed me, and even though he was still my friend, he still annoyed me.

I looked over the rest of the group, standing on the airport runway. Behind Nanoha and Aaron were Arisa and Suzuka, next to them were Fate and Yuuno, both of them looking different from when I first met them. At Fate's feet was a strange looking orange puppy, Arf. Actually a magical familiar to Fate, Arf had a human form, which retained her dog ears. Because of this, Arf had chosen to farewell me in her animal form.

My mother came up to me. It amused me to know that she knew nothing that four beings here were actually magical, and that everyone but Aaron and her knew this.

After being forced to endure a typically mother-y show of affection in-front of all my close friends, I turned to them.

"This is it" I said, "I'm leaving to the best collage in the country"

My friends clapped and cheered. My eyes were upon Nanoha, even though I was speaking to everyone else as well.

"I wouldn't be here, if it weren't for you guys" I said, locking eyes with each of them.

"I have had," I went on, "an amazing time with all of you" as I spoke I stepped forward, until I was right in-front of Nanoha.

"Especially you" I finished.

Nanoha blushed a little.

"Arthur…" she started.

"Kiss her!" Aaron called out

I would kill him. I was already working out how I would dispose of his body in my mind when I heard another voice:

"Yeah!" Arisa's voice, "kiss already!"

I looked around, Yuuno was looking awkwardly away from us and Fate was staring at me. Her dark eyes were kind of scary, I looked away.

Suzuka was smiling, Arisa was looking at us expectedly, my mother was laughing and Aaron was carrying on.

"I'm sorry" I begun to say to Nanoha. By now both of us were blushing significantly.

"No, its alright" Nanoha said, looking down, "but, well, I'm not going to see you again for a while am I?"

"No" I said, "but I'll text you all the time, and email you as well"

"Mm" Nanoha nodded, her smile sad.

I put my hands on her shoulder, I didn't know why but I just felt that I should show my appreciation to her. Our friendship had become so strong I was sure it warranted my next action.

I leaned in and kissed Nanoha, quickly, on both her blushing cheeks.

Everyone cheered. Nanoha, and me, turned bright red and avoided eye contact for a few seconds.

"Goodbye Nanoha" I said to her

"Goodbye Arthur" she said back, her voice filled with emotion.

I leaned in and whispered

"Goodbye to you too, Raising Heart"

The jewel around Nanoha's neck flashed twice in recognition.

Nanoha wrapped her arms around me in a warm hug. I put my arms across her as well. It wasn't the first time we had hugged, but it would be the last for a long time.

I felt Nanoha's lips press against my own cheek, leaving just a tiny drop of her saliva behind when they left. The first time any girl had kissed me.

After I stepped back from Nanoha, I surveyed the rest of my friends, most had lingering smiles following our display of affection.

I reached up and removed my Honour Badge from my lapel. I had intended to wear it at my first meeting with the principal of the collage, but now I had found a better use for it.

I held it out to Nanoha. She reached out and gingerly took it.

"Your badge…" she said, looking at it, then up to me.

"I want you to have it," I said, "look after it for me,"

Nanoha nodded slowly.

"It's a promise okay?" I declared, "I'm going to come back for it one day, which means we'll meet again, alright?"

Nanoha smiled when I said that. She held the badge close to her.

"Mm!" she said with a nod.

I backed onto the first step, before I turned and walked up them. At the top, I turned around again. Aaron was cheering and pumping his fist. Yuuno was smiling, Arisa had her arms crossed and was looking up me with a half smile, Arf was barking, Suzuka, Fate and Nanoha were all waving. My mother was waving as well.

I don't know what came over me, but I decided to give them one last thing to remember me by:

"Goodbye, AND GOOD LUCK!" I called out, raising my hand up. I don't know why, but I brought it across my chest, my palm flat, almost like a blade.

They all cheered me on as I walked inside, and the door was closed.

I sat down in one of the plush seats, looking out the window, catching a last look of them as the continued to wave.

I felt a single tear roll down my cheek.

The jet took off, screeching into the sky, flying me off to what would be my home for the next few years. I was upset to be leaving everyone behind, especially Nanoha. But I had talked with her about it many times, and she had always encouraged me. Everyone had. This was the future I had to take, that I wanted to take. This collage alleged it could take me anywhere; Time to find out just where I was going.

The flight was highly pleasant in and of itself. The attendant gave me a briefing on what I could expect during my first meeting, a sheet to select my first classes and a booklet that contained information on all the courses. After carefully pondering the booklet, I selected Chemistry, Physics, Advanced Literature and Ancient History. Catered to my interests well enough, and hopefully with these subjects I would be able to step into a career that suited me. What that would be I didn't know yet, but I was sure I would figure it out.

I handed my forum to the attendant, he took it with a bow and disappeared for a moment.

When he returned, he held a silver briefcase.

"For you sir" he said.

I took the case and carried it over to my seat. I popped the locks and opened it up. Inside were two things.

One was my new uniform, still in its plastic packaging. The other was a brand new state-of-the-art laptop. A small card sat on top of the computer.

The card was made of thick, creamy cardboard. In gold, cursive letters was a note from the principal himself.

Mr Kingston, thank you for accepting our offer to study with us. Please consider this a gift from your new school.

Yours sincerely

Mr. Kotarou

Principal of the Academy.

I smiled. A fine gift indeed. I traced my fingers along the surface of the laptop, before I flipped it open. The high-definition screen reflected the light from the window into my face. I closed the laptop and picked up the uniform, _my_ uniform. I hoped I liked it because I was going to be wearing it for the next two years.

I took the uniform to the jet's bathroom and changed into it. It fit comfortably.

The uniform consisted of a black shirt and a silver tie, black trousers, a belt - the buckle of which was engraved with the school's emblem - and black blazer, trimmed with silver along the edges, the emblem on the breast pocket. In the inside pocket was a USB-drive, which again bore the school's emblem and a gold pen, which once again had the schools emblem upon it.

The collage was clearly big on its emblem. There was even a handkerchief included, which had the emblem upon it.

I remembered what was written in the brochure:

_Students must be in full uniform at all times when on school grounds or engaging in any school activity. No exceptions._

Well, that was to be expected from such a prestigious school.

The attendant came up to me.

"You look very smart, Mr. Kingston."

"Thank you" I replied.

"We'll be landing soon, so if you'd please take your seat"

I returned to a random seat and buckled myself in. I felt my stomach drop as we decreased altitude, I closed my eyes, I had always hated the decent of planes.

I felt the world outside go fuzzy. I ignored it.

I felt someone shaking me. I wished they wouldn't it was annoying. Aaron. It was probably Aaron. Had I fallen asleep in class again?

I was still being shook, I cracked open my eyelid, and saw not Aaron, but the flight attendant.

"Oh" I mumbled. That's right. I was starting my new collage today wasn't I?

"Mr. Kingston, there is a car waiting to take you onto the Academy campus" the attendant said.

"Right" I said, getting up. The attendant handed me a bag. It had my new laptop in it, plus my textbooks, diary, laptop charge-cable and other things I would need.

I slung the strap of the bag over my shoulder and stepped off the plane. I was a little dizzy but I made my way over to the waiting car. Surprise surpise, the side of the car was emblazoned with the collages logo. Oh well.

I stepped inside.

"Mr. Kingston?" the diver asked.

"That would be me" I replied drowsily.

"Righto!" He nodded, and looked away.

"Hey, what about my luggage?" I asked, the realisation that I did _not_ have the bags that I had packed on the plane before departure.

"Oh that'll be brought round to your apartment in a separate car" the driver said. The driver reminded me of the old ice-cream vendor from back home. I instantly developed a dislike of the innocent man for this reason.

I spent much of the journey looking out the window, taking in the scenery. It was different from what I was used to, and yet somehow the same. I decided the scenery was not really of any interest to me and was attempting to make up my mind whether to take another nap when the car slowed to a stop.

I hadn't noticed, but we had entered the massive collage grounds. I stepped out of the car, a cool breeze blowing through my hair.

The main building stood in-front of me, about 20 meters away. It was giant, 4 stories high. It was made of bricks, and gave the impression of being very old yet highly modern at the same time.

The driver walked up to my side and held his arm out, gesturing in the direction of the entrance.

"When you're ready Mr. Kingston"

I nodded and took a deep breath. My hand reached to my collar and straightened my tie subconsciously. I adjusted my jacket and closed my eyes. Was I ready for this? Could I handle it?

Unbidden, but not unwelcome, Nanoha's voice entered my mind.

"_You can do it, Arthur"_ it said.

Yes.

I could do it.

I thrust my hands into my pockets and walked away from the driver toward the building.

The automatic doors slid open and I walked in. My feet sank into the plush, red carpet.

I surveyed the room. It looked as an office should look, neatly set out, two plush chairs on either side of a round table in the corner of the room and of course the large, mahogany reception desk, complete with preening secretary behind it.

I walked up to the mass of wood.

"Arthur Kingston to see the headmaster" I stated flatly.

"Take a seat" droned the secretary, trying to pretend that she hadn't just pressed a buzzer to alert the principal to my presence.

I trudged over to the two chairs and sat down upon the nearest. The little table had three magazines on it but I ignored them. Instead I took my cell phone from my pocket and sent Nanoha, Aaron, my mother and a few other friends a text:

Hey everyone it read,

Just touched down and made it to the collage. BIG place! Got my new uniform on, they even gave me a laptop! Meeting with principal now! Will talk to you all soon.

Arthur

I clicked the "send message" button and slipped my phone back into my pocket.

Already it was vibrating with replies. Undoubtedly that one was Aaron, given he had nothing better to do that sit around with his phone all day.

I removed the strap on the bag from my shoulder, and opened the front compartment. Inside were my textbooks. I ignored them, since I suspected I was going to be seeing more than enough of them in class for the next two years at this collage.

Instead I removed the diary. It was a black, leather bound book, with the collages emblem on the front. Inside were creamy, thick pages. I flipped though them slowly. At any regular store, this type of diary would have been super expensive. It wasn't something that I would have been able to afford normally, nor something I would consider buying if I did have the money. The collage seemed to buy only the best for its students. They must have spent a fortune on stationary alone.

I looked at the door beside the receptionist's desk. I guessed that that was where the headmaster's office was. No one was coming out, so either the principal was busy or he was ignoring me for now. I would have no choice but to wait either way.

An idea struck me. I reached into the inside pocket of my blazer and removed the elegant pen that they had given me. With a twist I extended the nib. I took a brief moment to examine it, before I flipped open the diary again. On the inside page, I wrote my name, "Arthur Kingston". The ink slid from the pen smoothly. Again, the pen alone was probably worth a considerable amount of money, more than anyone should be spending on a pen. I twisted the pen to cover the tip and replaced it inside my pocket. I closed the diary and put it back inside my bag.

I felt my phone vibrate inside my pocket again. Another reply to my message. I debated whether to check it or not. One was Aaron, I knew that for sure. The message that had just come in was probably from my mother. The only one I really wanted to text me back was Nanoha. Of course a reply from Suzuka or Arisa would be nice too. I wouldn't mind talking to Fate either, but I had never had much of a conversation with her, over text or in person. I considered her a good friend, but that friendship was mainly born from a mutual friendship with Nanoha. I had spoken to Fate about her magic, but she had never shown me properly. Arisa and Suzuka knew more about Fate's powers than I, having witnessed them firsthand, albeit by accident. I had seen her device, Bardiche, in its standby from, a triangular yellow gem that she carried around. She had refused to activate it, but Nanoha had described it to me on a separate occasion. Well, one day I was sure I would get to see it.

I looked out the window on the far side of the room. There seemed to be an extremely black cloud hovering. Perhaps it was going to storm soon. That would be nice. I had a thing for storms. Most people hated them, but I loved sitting at the window, watching the lightning slash the sky, hearing the thunders great clap. To me, falling asleep amongst these conditions was highly pleasant.

On closer inspection the cloud seemed to be glowing. Glowing?

It was, I was sure of it. It was glowing with a deep green light. I knew meteorology well enough to know that this was something that shouldn't be possible under regular circumstances.

I rose from my chair, keen to get a closer look at the cloud. This phenomenon could prove incredible to research. What was causing the glow was a mystery to me.

I heard a door open.

"Arthur Kingston" a deep voice called out to me.

I turned to see a squat man in an ill fitting suit. The principal, Mr. Kotarou, I knew from pictures I had seen. The only thing I couldn't figure out is why, with all the money this school clearly had, the headmaster couldn't get a better suit.

"Yes" I said, slipping unwittingly into my usual bored tone.

"Please step into my office" Kotarou said with a wide and friendly smile. The happy look didn't fit his face. I could tell he didn't smile much. I guessed that the reason he was smiling for me was because I was now his prize. The best student in the country had opted to go to his school. Special treatment was to be expected, that much I was aware of.

I looked back to where the cloud had been, only to find it had vanished. Had it been whisked away by the wind? I couldn't be sure, and there was not enough time to investigate properly. I dismissed the cloud from my mind and followed the principal into his office.

The office was furnished similarly to the reception, including a mahogany desk and the same deep carpet.

Kotarou was now seated behind his desk. He gestured to another seat, identical to the one I had just been sitting on.

"Please" he said. I sat.

"I trust you receive our gift?" he inquired.

"Yeah" I said, holding up my bag.

"Are you satisfied with it?"

"I am." I said, trying to go for a gracious and thankful tone and failing, "it is a far greater machine that I could hope to afford with my own funds".

"You needn't worry about funds here, Mr. Kingston" Kotarou said, his genuine attempt at a smile still plastered on his fat face. "You will be accommodated in your own apartment provided and paid for by us, and we will provide you with a student debt card." This was clearly a prepared sales-pitch. Oh well.

"You will receive," Kotarou continued, "a substantial fortnightly allowance, which you will be able to access with your debt card" he nodded, apparently satisfied with himself for some reason, "of course how you spend the money is up to you, but we do encourage responsible spending, and remember the rules of the collage at all times"

"Of course, sir" I said. If I couldn't get a genuinely respectful tone in my voice, I would at least tack on a respectful way of addressing this man.

"Mr. Kingston, I cannot convey with words exactly how pleased I am that you selected our collage." Kotarou was still nodding as he was saying all this. It slightly irked me, but I knew I would have to tolerate it.

"Well it was the obvious choice, Mr. Kotarou, sir" I said smoothly. "Your collage offers the best education in the country"

"Oh indeed" said Kotarou, clapping his hands in clear delight. "We are rather prestigious". _That_ was an understatement.

"Quite so" I replied, nodding just like Kotarou, "I simply had to accept your offer".

"When we heard about you we couldn't believe it" Kotarou said, "apparently you were a fairly high, but still average achiever until some years ago, when you spontaneously became one of the best, if not _the best_ student in the country, perhaps even the world, overnight" He stood up, I did as well.

"But how did you do it?" he asked bewildered, "you're a bright lad, clearly a very bright one indeed, but how did you go up in the academic scale so much?"

"I was, inspired" I said with a smile.

"Inspired by something?" Kotarou asked.

"Some_one_" I replied, thrusting my hands into my pockets.

"Someone?" Kotarou clapped again. This man had some strange habits.

"By whom" he asked, leaning closer to me as he did.

"It's a secret" I said slyly, turning away.

Kotarou laughed. His deep chortles echoed through the vast office.

"Well then, on an entirely different subject, would you care for a tour of the college campus?" he asked me.

"Yeah" I said, looking back over my shoulder at him.

The tour around the school took over an hour. The place was massive, consisting of several multi-story buildings. I saw the magnificent computer lab, with the most up-to-date machines sparkling within. I peered into the science block, gaining a glimpse at all the fresh, expensive equipment and clean facilities. I looked at the literature section, a huge building constructed around the library. The library itself must have been the biggest building in the school, and the classrooms constructed around it only added to its sheer bulk.

At the end of the tour, I was taken back to the same car that had brought me here, and driven to my apartment, which would become my home for the long time that I was at this school.

The apartment was more like a 5 star hotel, and as I ascended in the glass elevator I realised that while I was going to be working hard, living here was going to be extremely enjoyable.

I slipped my key-card into the lock on the door, and with a click it released its lock. I pressed the handle down and swung the door open as I stepped in.

My eyes widened at the site. The luxurious room was warm, with cream coloured carpet. There was a separate room with a shining kitchen, complete with a fully furbished fridge, a comfortable living area, with a reclining armchair, a two cushion couch and a desk and chair. Upon the desk sat a lamp and a telephone. There was a large, LCD television mounted on the wall, and a coffee table in the centre. The remote for the TV was on the table. I investigated a small cabinet under the LCD and found a DVD player was included. The bathroom was clean and white, with soft white towels piled up on the sink. Just like a hotel the room and its contents would be regularly cleaned by the staff, which was a plus, since I had always hated cleaning up after myself.

I came to the bedroom. It was as a bedroom should look, with a massive king-sized bed which was covered by black and silver sheets. The college colours. At least they hadn't smeared their emblem all over everything. I suppose the giant gold plated metal one hanging upon the front of the building was enough for them.

My bags, all my possessions I had brought with me had already been brought up. Tomorrow was a day off school, then my classes would commence the next day. I set my school bag down next to the coffee table in the living room, and collapsed on the couch. I resolved to unpack tomorrow, since I was too tired to do it today.

I finally checked my phone. I had more messages. Ones from Aaron, Arisa, Suzuka, My mother, even Yuuno had sent me one. But there was only one I was interested in. I saved it till last.

Arthur that's great!

I hope your meeting goes alright. If you like, call me later and we'll talk about it :).

Nanoha.

I grabbed the phone that sat upon the desk and dialled Nanoha's cell-phone number.

It rang four times before it was answered.

"Hello?" said a sleepy, soft voice.

"Nanoha, it's me" I said

"Arthur" she said happily, "how are you?"  
>"Did I wake you" I said apologetically, ignoring her question.<p>

"No, its alright" she said. She sounded drowsy, and even though she wasn't here with me, just hearing her was enough to fill me with warmth and happiness.

"How's collage?" she asked.

I spent a good two hours on the phone with her, until she went to bed. I spent the rest of the night watching television until I too got tired and retired to my new bedroom.

As I lay under the covers, I thought about what was to come. A new life of intense work, with great rewards.

I closed my eyes happily. What would the future bring?

The alarm by my bed set off a blaring tone. I rolled underneath my crispy covers, trying to ignore it, but it got progressively louder and louder until I could take it no more. I threw off the covers and slammed my palm down on the "snooze" button, ending the infernal racket.

With a yawn I sat up and stretched, looking around my new bedroom. It was an alien setting to wake up to but I knew I would get used to it soon enough.

I stumbled into the living room. The room was a little cold, and I still hadn't worked out how the heating functioned. That was on my "to-do" list for today amongst other things.

My stomached rumbled, alerting me to the fact that I was hungry. Breakfast was in order I decided, I made my way into the kitchen. There was milk and juice in the fridge, but little in the way of food. A rummage in the pantry and investigation into the cupboards revealed that there was not even a loaf of bread in the apartment room. I sighed. I had no choice; I would have to travel to the store before I could even have my morning meal. Which meant I would need a shower first and to get dressed. How annoying.

At that point there was a knock at the door. Another annoyance. I wrapped a cotton robe from the wardrobe around myself and opened the door.

A young girl in a frilled apron was standing there, holding a tray of steaming food.

"Mr. Kinstson?" she asked

"Yeah" I replied, the look of annoyance slowly fading from my face.

"I've brought you some breakfast sir" the maid said.

"T-thanks" I said, still slightly confused. I took the tray in both hands.

"Please enjoy" the girl said.

"Yeah" I said rather flatly. I manoeuvred the tray inside and closed the door with my foot. I set the plater of food down upon the larger table and examined the contents.

It was a standard breakfast by any view. There were two slices of toasted bread, a cup of tea, a pot of butter, and an orange. With a shrug I buttered the toast, and then consumed the lot.

After breakfast I took a shower. The hot water pressure was incredible, especially considering there must be other people in the apartment using the shower at the same time. I took my time, using the water as I always had, to wash away not only dirt and grime, but my stresses and worries. Classes started tomorrow, and I knew it was going to be intense, but that didn't matter. For today, I had to get myself sorted. Also, it occurred to me that I had better ring my mother. I had called Nanoha but not my own parent. There was probably something wrong with that. Oh well. I would make sure to do it later.

Once I was dressed, in casual attire since I wasn't going anywhere near the college campus today, I looked for my cell-phone. It was annoying, I had abandoned it after I called Nanoha last night and now I had to find it. After an extensive search, it revealed itself as underneath the couch cushions. I didn't have any missed calls, but I did have two texts. One was from my mother asking how I was. I replied that I would call her later tonight. The other was from Aaron. I deleted _that _one without reading it. I wasn't in the mood for Aaron.

Was I ever in the mood for Aaron? How had we become friends? It was too long ago for me to remember now. I threw on my jacket and stepped out into the apartment's corridor, though not before making sure I had my student debt card and key-card in my wallet.

I made my way into the city, a new city for me to explore, to map out in my head. I spent the day wandering, mentally marking locations. When I saw a store with something I might need, I went in and brought what I required. Merely _showing_ my debt card was enough to make all the shop assistance dance with joy. I suppose all students of my college got that treatment.

I stopped for lunch at a random café, and texted Nanoha, telling her what I was doing and asking her how she was. It took about 15 minutes for her to reply, but once she did, we had a conversation, even over the short text messages. I was constantly texting her, even as I walked through the city, picking up the various supplies I would need.

By the time I made it back to my apartment room I was lugging about 20 bags behind me. Nanoha had said goodbye but promised to text me tomorrow, after classes, which meant I had something to look forward to.

I stocked the pantry with the food I had brought, loaded the fridge with bottles and cans of various drinks and other consumables. I unpacked my clothes, transferring them from my many bags into the wardrobes and drawers. The place begun to feel more like a home and less like a foreign hotel, now that my belongings were scattered around. I hung some posters, not that I had many. A large periodic table went up along one well, a promotional poster for one of my favourite anime got plastered against my bedroom's wall. I rearranged the tables and chairs a little, and paced from room to room, trying to familiarise myself with the entire apartment. I was still coming to terms with the fact that I had moved out of home, more than likely permanently. I was going to get used to living on my own, but it was going to take some time.

I picked up the phone again late that evening and called my mother. Though her voice didn't have anywhere near the effect that Nanoha's did, it was still nice to talk to her. We chatted for a while, the topics alternating between my life and hers. She already missed me, and I had been gone barely two days. Well, that was to be expected, motherly love.

After I had finished talking to mother, I showered once again, and went straight to bed. I knew there would be no fooling around tomorrow. My new school life officially began and I wasn't going to mess it up. I had my uniform laid out, my bag, full of textbooks and containing my laptop already packed. I slunk down beneath the covers and fell asleep, my dreams full of flashbacks to my old life, eating at _Midoriya_ with Nanoha and her friends, laughing the days away. Times that were long gone.

I awoke to my alarm clocks annoying buzz early the next morning. I showered, and fixed myself a light breakfast. Then I dressed into my immaculate uniform and took up my bag. I slipped my wallet into my back pocket and adjusted my glasses, and then I set out. Toward my school. I had a timetable of my classes issued to my and I was keeping it in my diary. I knew where I needed to go, it was simply a matter of being on time.

I caught the bus into the school grounds, and when I stepped out, the loud, deep bell was ringing to signify that lessons would be beginning. All around me there were other students. The boys were all dressed identically to me, and thanks to the multitudes of female students I got a look at the girl's uniform. It had a pull-over black jumper instead of a blazer, and a knee length black skirt, hemmed along the edges with silver.

Everyone carried bags, but not all of them were like mine, meaning the school didn't make a habit of providing its students with up-to-date laptops. Of course most of them either had their own laptops, or high-capability PC's at home. Everyone here was a genius, and a large percentage was very wealthy.

I consulted my diary, first class of the day was chemistry. The science lab, then, was my destination.

I rushed along to it, worries creeping into my mind. What if I wasn't good enough? What if I couldn't make it.

In my mind, it suddenly seemed as if all my friends were with me, walking to my classroom with me.

"_You can do it" _I could hear Aaron saying, "_you're the smartest kid in the world!"_

"_It'll be alright Arthur!" "You're ready for this, I know it" _chirped Suzuka in my head.

"_Stop worrying and go show them how good you are already!"_ Arisa ordered. I imagined her turning her head away from me as she said this.

"_You're going to be fine, I've seen your reports, you belong here"_, this time it was Yuuno.

"_Good luck, don't let me down okay?"_ Fate. Short and sharp to me even in my imagination.

"_Arthur, do your best, I know you can do it."_ That was Nanoha, in my imagination she was nodding. Encouraging me.

"I will" I whispered. "Thank you, all of you". No one was really there, but I didn't care.

I had reached the science block. I pushed open the door and entered.

The teacher and other student looked around.

"Oh" the teacher smiled, "looks like our new star has arrived. Mr. Arthur Kingston, isn't it"

Instantly there was a murmur among the students. They glanced at me and whispered to each other. Whether they were saying positive or negative things about me I wouldn't know. I resolved not to care.

"Yes" I said finally to the teacher, "that's me"

Though the classes were long, the day flew by. I met several of my teachers. My literature teacher was a plump, grey haired woman. She ran a strict class, but often, she crept a little humour into her lectures, and the class would get a laugh. I felt I would get along with her fine. My physics teacher I was less sure of, he was a mid-aged man who thought he knew everything. It was true his facts and figures had all been correct thus far, but he had an arrogant tone, and I couldn't wait for him to slip up so I could correct him.

For want of a much better word, my chemistry teacher was "cool". He was liked by the students and famous for allowing his pupils to conduct their own experiments, with free access to the lab equipment and recourses. A handsome young man, he was admired and coveted by more than a few female students.

My ancient history teacher looked about as old as the civilisations he taught us about. He had little personality, and was the most boring of all my teachers. He taught the lessons and that was about it.

There was no vulgar language thrown around at the back of the classes by foolish students, no mucking around in class. Everyone here was here to study and learn. Academic paradise.

At the end of the day, I caught the bus back to the apartment building and made my way up to my own room. I set down my bag, and stripped off my uniform, changing into a singlet top and track-pants. I grabbed a bag of potato chips from the cupboard and sat down straight away to start on the stack of homework I had received. It wouldn't take me long to get through the whole lot, as long as I kept putting effort into it.

I managed to complete the homework with an hour and a half to spare before my self-designated bedtime. I texted Nanoha, and watched a few episodes of some anime in that time. Then I went to bed.

That's how my days went on. Routinely, day in and out, without fail. On weekends, I studied and relaxed, almost always on my phone to my old friends, particularly Nanoha. Things were going well for her.

The days rolled on like this. I was outstanding here, the same as I had once been in my school back home. I made friends that I sometimes spoke to during breaks, but mainly I kept up my studies, eliminating homework where I could to allow myself more relaxation time. Nanoha couldn't text me as much anymore these days. She had moved… to a whole new dimension. She had joined the TSAB, the Time Space Administration Bureaucracy. As their aerial ace, she was getting promoted fast. Along with Fate, and her other friend Hayate, who I had only ever heard about, Nanoha was becoming one of the most valuable assets to the agency that protected time and space.

It was fairly amazing how we causally talked of such things, but I had grown too used to it by now. As time went on, and the end of my schooling drew near, I went whole months without hearing from Nanoha, and then she'd call up out of nowhere and we'd talk for hours. I kept focused. I was getting ever closer to graduation. Nothing was going to stop me.

Three Years Later

Amongst the crowds of other passengers, I stepped off the plane. My grey suit fluttered slightly in the wind cast by the engines of various aircraft around the airport. Finally I was back in my home city, for a while at least. I carried with me my briefcase, filled with papers and my laptop. I made my way to the luggage collection conveyor belt. Since I'd moved out of the collage apartments, I'd had to place most of my belongings in a storage facility. I had a more than considerable share of money left over from savings from my student allowance, so that wasn't a problem. What was a problem was having to find somewhere else to live. So I'd come home so I could stay with my mother while I searched for a house, or apartment. And there was another reason I was here now. I slid open my new phone and re-read the newest message for the 12th time.

Hey Arthur

It's been way too long since we've seen each other! Me and Yuuno are coming to your world for a mission, you should meet us!

Nanoha

Of course I had agreed straight away. I couldn't wait for so many reasons. I wanted to see Nanoha and to talk to her like we used to, to walk with her and eat at _Midoriya. _I also wanted to see how she looked now that she was a 19 year old adult. I would find out soon, tomorrow to be exact. For now I had to make it home and unpack. Tomorrow would be here soon enough.

When I arrived at the door of my house, I took a moment to glance around the area. In all the time I'd been away, this place had never changed.

I knocked on the door. From the inside of house I could hear rummaging as someone reached for the door handle.

The door swung open, revealing my mother. She hadn't changed even a tiny bit in my entire absence.

She let out a cry of joy and embraced me in the same manner of affection as when I left.

After she had finished an incredible amount of kissing and hugging she took me inside.

"Arthur, welcome home!" she said jubilantly.

"It's good to be back" I smiled, loosening my tie.

"I'm more proud of you than ever!" mother said, clapping her hands together, "you graduated at the top of your classes"

"As usual" I said with a shrug

"But this was the best collage in the country!" mother cried, still emoting with her arms.

I smiled, oh yes. It was good to be home.

That evening I had a home-cooked meal for the first time in three years. That evening I sat and watched television with my mother, sipping wine and sharing tales. I had grown up away from home. I had left her a child and returned an adult. I hadn't realised how much I had missed my own home. I could crawl underneath my soft blankets and sleep in my own, old bed. I would wake up tomorrow, and it would be like any other day when I was young.

And after a long night, that is exactly what I did.

After I had woken up and dressed the next morning, I made my way into town. I was receiving constant text messages and excitement was filling my veins as I answered each one. I was finally going to see her again.

I rounded the corner and tucked my phone into my pocket. I might've been much taller and older then, but at that instant I still felt like that small young boy who hadn't being paying attention on his way home.

I stepped up to where we were supposed to meet. There was no sign of her. Or was I just missing her? I didn't know what she looked like now after all. She'd be the same age as me. A 19 year old woman, rather than the young girl I used to play with.

What if she was here and she didn't recognise me? I had grown and changed too. My hair was longer, I wore different clothes and new glasses. Would she know it was me? Would I know it was her?

My thoughts were interrupted when a voice reached my ears:

"Arthur."

The gentle and happy voice came from behind me. I knew the voice so well. My emotions overflowed and I begun to smile wider than I had in years. The serious expression I had had for so long was whisked away in one instant.

I turned around, slowly. Time seemed to pause as I did.

Then I finally saw her. Nanoha Takamachi.

She was almost as tall as me now. Her hair had gotten much longer and it was tied in a single long ponytail on the side of her head. It flowed down her side almost to her waist. Small curls of hear framed her matured, yet still youthful face. Her big purple eyes hadn't changed at all. She was so beautiful now that I could hardly believe something like her was talking to me.

"Nanoha" I said, continuing to look her up and down. She was wearing a white shirt, a small black jumper and a brown jacket over it. She had black stockings on and a matching skirt. The clothes somehow suited her well. On closer inspection I could see the cord around her neck that I knew held the standby form of Raising Heart, but the jewel itself was hidden underneath her shirt.

"Hi" she said, holding her hand up in a little wave.

I lunged forward and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close into my tight hug.

She laughed, and put her own arms behind my back.

"I missed you" I said to her, "you've grown up."

"So have you" Nanoha said, "and I missed you a lot as well"

I let her go and stepped back.

"But you work, off-world now don't you?" I said excitedly, "tell me about it!"

Nanoha giggled again,

"Mm!" she nodded with her radiant smile, "I've got a lot to tell you since we last spoke, so you can tell me how the last year of college went as well"

"Yeah!" I said.

We walked around the familiar city, talking about our lives. I felt renewed potential rise up in me as Nanoha spoke all about her new position as an Ariel Mage, and a Capitan in the new division "Section 6". Her life sounded way more exciting than mine could ever be, but she insisted I talk about what happened between now and when we had last spoken.

So I told her all about my relentless studying, doing the equivalent of months worth of homework in a matter of days. I went on about how I graduated in the top 1% of all my classes. I tried to make things sound exciting and dramatic, but I was talking to a magical girl who worked for an organization in another dimension. How could I possibly ever entertain her?

But somehow I did. She laughed and smiled and encouraged me to tell her more. We kept swapping our stories, walking along until we reached a pier by the lapping waves of the ocean, on the outskirts of town. She sat down on the edge, her slender legs dangling over the side, almost skimming the water.

She looked up at me and smiled. As usual, the smile filled me with joy and warmth, and I dropped down next to her.

"I'm glad to be back here" she said to me, looking into the sky.

A thought struck me as I remembered her text she'd sent me earlier.

"Hey, where's Yuuno?" I asked. I didn't care whether I saw Yuuno or not, in fact I'd rather I got to spend alone with Nanoha, rather than having to tolerate and talk to him.

"He's off handling the mission" Nanoha said, "that's why we came here remember?"  
>"Yeah." I said, nodding, "but didn't you have to do that as well?"<p>

Nanoha winked at me.

"It's a very easy mission, he won't need me" she said.

Slowly I begun to realise what she was saying to me.

"Then, you didn't have to come here at all, you came along with Yuuno and used the mission as an excuse"

"Mm!" Nanoha smiled.

"Just to see me?" I finished.

"Correct" Nanoha said, holding up her finger and winking again.

I laughed, tossing my head back. Happiness overflowed from me. She had come to see me. She hadn't needed to but she had come anyway. Just to see me.

I turned red a little, and took her hand in my own.

"Thank you" I said.

She smiled and leaned in toward me, resting her head on my arm.

That's how we stayed for the next half-an-hour, gazing across the into the horizon, the wave gentling lapping near our feet.

After that moment of utter peace, we walked into the centre of town. Our final destination was to be _Midoriya_, so Nanoha could see her family as well as have lunch with me. Rather than going straight there however, Nanoha was taking her time to look around at the various shops. She insisted that I carry the bags she brought as well. I didn't really mind since it was her, but I failed to understand why she couldn't shop _after_ we'd eaten.

As we walked through the spacious mall area, I noticed that people were looking to the sky and pointing, with looks of panics on their face.

Out of interest I turned my own head upward, and my jaw fell.

The sky was no longer a light and calm blue and the clouds were not fluffy white blobs.

Everything radiated with a menacing green glow. The clouds had become black masses, grouping together and blocking out the sun, plunging the mall into darkness. The ground rumbled below me. An earthquake?

I felt my mind flash back years ago to when I first was waiting for the principal at my collage. Outside the window, the glowing cloud. Now all the clouds looked that.

What was it? Some natural phenomenon? Or something more? The ground below me shook more and more. Windows shattered, the reality of the situation dawned on me. We were in the middle of what would soon become a disaster zone. People were already running around screaming and flailing their arms.

From the black clouds, rays of green light begun to shine down. Where they hit buildings, the structures crumbled and collapsed, falling down, smashing into the pavement, trapping the unfortunate people who could not escape in time. Everything was crumbling. As far as I could see the same thing was happening. I couldn't believe it.

My thoughts were pierced by a familiar shout. I swung around to see Nanoha directly in the path of falling rubble. Without hesitation she flung her hand up, and I felt her magic surge. The intricate glowing pink circle formed a short distance away from her outstretched palm. Shielding magic, I guessed.

The rubble hit the pink circle, and begun to pile upon it, safely protecting her. However, more and more clumps of concrete and class piled up, until one huge chunk smashed down upon it, shattering the shield into glowing particles. The rubble tumbled toward a now defenceless Nanoha.

My mind went into overdrive, without hesitation I threw myself at her, shouting her name as I did.

"_Nanoha!_"

The weight and momentum of my impact threw us both clear as the pile of rubble smashed into the ground.

I pushed myself up, my face only inches from Nanoha's. Even with everything crumbling around us, I was still blushing and so was she.

"Thanks" Nanoha stuttered.

"Yeah" I said awkwardly.

I tried to ignore the situation and leapt to my feat, pulling Nanoha up with me. She clung to my arm, fear clearly visible in her wide purple eyes.

"Arthur, what's going on?" she asked frightened.

I looked around. As far as I could see all the buildings were crumbling, falling down. People were running, screaming. Countless amounts were crushed underneath the rubble, or trampled underfoot. The phenomenon had gone on for less than five minutes and already blood splattered the pavement. Nanoha had witnessed all of this, and she was trembling with fear and disbelief.

"No!" she begun to cry, shouting it over and over, "no!" "NO!" NO!"

I pulled her close to try and calm her down. There was only one thought on my mind now:

_Survive._

"Everything's collapsing" I murmured, my mind working fast. "The only safe place is…"

My eyes fell upon a destroyed building, everything falling around it.  
>"Something that's already collapsed" I finished. A plan took shape in my mind.<p>

I rushed over to the pile of concrete and metal, which had once been a large building. Falling debris pounded on me but I kept going. I leapt down and pushed away the larger pieces of rubble, kicking smaller pieces away, excavating a tiny cove in the middle of the pile.

A heavy piece of concrete hit my back. Spasms of pain erupted all over me, but I knew I had to keep moving the parts. I looked over at Nanoha. She was still standing there. It looked like she had gone into shock. Raising Heart must have been acting on auto-mode because pink shields of energy kept forming to protect her from all the falling wreckage without her doing anything. She was safe. Good.

I kept working. Adrenaline filled my body, sweeping away the pain and granting me the strength to continue. I had to make this place big enough, and I had less than a minute to do it.

I scraped my hands against the concrete as I did. My own blood left imprints on everything I touched. I didn't care. I had seen so much blood in the last four minutes than I had in my lifetime, a little from my hands didn't matter now.

Finally I was done. Barely.

I sprinted over to Nanoha and grabbed her arm.

"Come on" I said to her.

She shakily turned her head toward me. I'd never seen her like this. She seemed to helpless. So scared.

"Nanoha, lets go!"

She nodded and trailed behind me as we ran over to the hole in the rubble I had dug. I shoved her in, before climbing in after her. It was dark and uncomfortably squashed, but I could hear the rain of ruins falling down on top of it, and we were safe.

Part of our tiny shelter collapsed and the entrance was gone, burying us in. Now we were trapped together. From tiny gaps I could still see the green light flooding in. What was this?

Hours passed. Nanoha finaly returned to a conscious state, blinking off her shock. She was soaked in cold sweat and we were so close that I was also covered in it. If this had been a normal situation, I suspect I would have thought a lot differently about that than I did now.

"Arthur?" she said confused, "what happened?"

"I don't know" I said sighing.

"You saved us?" Though I could hardly see her, she seemed to be looking around. I could also feel her chest rising and falling and her warm breath upon my face. Neither of these factors mattered to me right now, all that mattered was working out how to survive what was happening.

I could hear the pounding from pieces of the collapsing buildings landing on top of our tiny shelter. The screams of people were ambient. My stomach sunk as I became aware that those were people dying. I put my hands over Nanoha's ears so she wouldn't have to listen, and she held on to me. I didn't know how long we would have to stay here, all I knew is that for now, we were safe.

Hours passed and the noise outside finally faded to nothing. The silence was almost as scary as the racket that had filled the air not long ago.

Nanoha had fallen into a state of unconsciousness again, whether it was a natural sleep or whether she had simply passed out due to fear and stress I did not know. Right now there was way too much that I didn't know, and I was going to need to start figuring some of it out. But I didn't want to move or do anything to wake up the sleeping girl on top of me. She needed to rest, and so would I. Keeping my arms on Nanoha, I closed my own eyes and drifted off to a dreamless, semi-conscious state. Even now my brain was churning over possible explanations for what may have happened. None of them made any sense. Nothing did for now.

"_Arthur_"

"_Arthur!"_

I opened my eyes to see Nanoha's eyes extremely close to my own. In fact _all_ I could see of her was her eyes.

"Nanoha" I said, "are you alright?"

"Mm" she nodded.

"We need to get out of here" I said, "I don't know what happened but I need to work it out"

I saw the outline of Nanoha's hand press against the rubble trapping us in.

"I'll get us out then, just hold on okay?" she said.

I saw a pink flash near Nanoha's chest and then a brighter glow near her hand, showering us both in the glow. She had activated her magic.

The light got brighter and there was an explosion of dust followed by light filling the space we were in. I threw my fist out and cleared more and more rocks, and we painfully rolled out.

Slowly I stood up, pulling Nanoha to her feet as I did so.

My jaw fell as I looked to the sky. I could not believe what I was seeing. I turned my head to Nanoha and saw the same look of disbelief on her face as well.

The sky was stained yellow. The familiar blue was gone replaced by the sick looking pale colour. There were no clouds, not a single one. Everywhere I looked there was not a building standing, and bodies littered as far as the eye could see. There was not a single person alive.

Nanoha spoke in a shaky voice:

"What happened?"

It dawned on me slowly. I didn't want to accept it. But I could see it in the sky. The sky had become green and a plethora of disasters had happened. I could see huge masses of water in the distance, I guessed tsunami's had hit, and we were just out of reach of them.

But it was the sky that told me just how great this disaster had been. The infinite blue sky that stretched to the horizon had become yellow. Which meant that it had all once been green. This had happened everywhere. Worldwide. The casualties would have been off the charts, massive beyond belief. As far as I could tell, we were the only ones left alive here. Maybe anywhere.

"The…" the words caught in my throat, but I had to say them. I knew it was true. I coughed and started again:

"The world ended"

Nanoha looked at me with a cocktail of emotions on her face. Disbelief, anger, despair, sadness, horror, worry, too many for me to read them all, I didn't want to. Several factors dawned on me, but I pushed them aside. Everything was dead here, and more than likely, everything was dead everywhere. If that disaster hadn't wiped them out, then an outbreak of inevitable fighting soon would. I had to get somewhere, away from this disaster filled place.

"Come on" I said to Nanoha.

I took her by the arm and led her away. We had to step over bodies and debris. It was by no means a pleasant experience at all. We tried to focus on one spot, and look nowhere else but there. We stumbled and fell along the way, but we always managed to get there in the end.

There were mealy shells of buildings left standing. Now where complete. I knew what we had to do. We had to leave here. Not just the town, but the country. Or at least a good distance from the main centres, I had a few ideas but the primary objective right now was to find something we could use to get away.

We struggled down to the flooded harbor, wading through knee deep water as we did. All of the boats had been overturned, but one caught my eye. A huge ship, designed for taking people long distances by sea. It had just come in today, and there would have been no one on board when the disaster happened. It looked reletivly undamaged.

"Nanoha" I said, pointing to it, "use your magic to stand that boat up"

"But…" she said, shivering. She wasn't thinking clearly, I could see that. But I needed her. I would sort her, and myself, out as soon as I could, but my emotions had been buried, my intelligence and logic had taken control.

"You have to, we need to get out of here" I said to her.

I heard a mechanical chime, and saw Raising Heart flash into life.

"You can do it, My master" said the device.

"Alright" said Nanoha, lifting her arm up, "I can try"

I nodded encouragingly.

"Please, Nanoha."

Nanoha clenched her outstretched hand.

"Raising Heart, please…"

"All right. Ajusting Magical Levels, prepare for telekinetic influx".

The bright pink glow of magic appeared around Nanoha's fist and then around the huge boat. Nanoha closed her eyes. A light wind picked up and blew her hair out behind her, her long side ponytail flailing around.

Nanoha drew her glowing hand back and then opened it, looking into her palm for a moment, before thrusting the hand forwards again. With a great groaning of metal, the ship begun to lift, water running off its sides.

As I suspected it was somehow in great shape. When Nanoha had finished in floated in the water, and if you looked only at it, you could swear nothing had happened.

"Yes!" I cried, pumping my fist into the air, "now get us up onto it".

"Mm" Nanoha nodded.

"Accel Fin" Raising Heart chimed, and from under the water I could see a pink glow around Nanoha's feat. I knew those bright wings had formed upon her soles.

I held on to her and we glided up and landed on the deck. As soon as we touched down on it I grabbed Nanoha's hand and led her down into the cabin compartment. It was an extremely lucky guess of directions but I managed to find the right section of the massive ship on the first go.

I kicked the door to a random cabin in and instantly entered it. The room was tidy but not freshly cleaned. I spied the bed, bolted into the corner. I tore off the blanket and wrapped it over Nanoha shoulders before guiding her into the room and sitting her down on the mattress.

"Stay here," I said, "rest okay?"

"But," Nanoha started to protest but I put my hands on her shoulders.

"You're in shock, I can tell, Nanoha, you've got to stay here" I explained hurriedly. I wanted nothing more than to sit and hug her, to comfort her. Shock was setting into my own body and it wouldn't be long before I broke down. I had to get us somewhere, somewhere we could stay, away from everything.

"Raising Heart, I'm counting on you, protect Nanoha and keep her safe okay?" I said to the tiny jewel around Nanoha's neck.

It lit up and flashed. Its mechanical voice spoke out reassuringly:

"I will protect my master. You are assured".

I nodded.

"I'll be back, I promise, soon." I said to Nanoha, hugging her.

With that I turned my back and left her there. I didn't know how long the ship would stay up, or even if I could get it to sail. I would give it my greatest try, I had to.

With adrenaline still filling my veins, I raced around to the bridge. Again, whether it was luck or fate, I managed to find it easily and on my first try.

I rammed the door with my shoulder, taking it right off its hinges. No time to have any respect for property or anything around me.

There were so many switches, buttons and leavers in front of me. Where would I start? I had to think, slow down, calm down and think.

But if I calmed down, my emotions would run rampant. I would break down and go into shock, just like Nanoha had. I couldn't risk that. Not yet.

Which buttons worked this thing? How did I get it to move? Was there a manual or something? There was no time for that, I was fighting my own body, my mind versus my emotions.

There was only one option. Trust my instincts. It had worked out well enough for me thus far. If I failed I was sure Raising Heart would protect Nanoha. If I died, well then no major issue.

A lot of the buttons and other controls were marked, so I wasn't just mashing blindly at the controls. Sure enough, the engines begun to whirl and groan into life. More fiddling and I felt the massive beast of a machine move, slowly turning away from port.

I wracked my brain, trying to find somewhere we could go. I had no idea how much fuel this thing had, or how far I would be able to get it.

I remembered something from a geography class way back in grade 7. There was an island a little out to sea that a billionaire had built an old-style, European castle, but it had been ravaged by tsunami's and earthquakes and was now abandoned. After it had been hit by what just happened I'm sure it was even more ruined. But if we could get to it, there would be no one there but us.

That's where we would go. I would take Nanoha to where she could be safe. Where nothing would frighten or upset her. Where she could let out her emotions and recover.

I rushed over to a compartment and shattered the plastic with my elbow. I was breaking a lot of things today. Oh well. The world had just ended. I don't think anyone would mind. In the compartment were several maps. I rifled through them until I found the one with the island marked on it.

Discarding the other ones, I made my way back to the controls and attempted to keep us on course.

Luck must have been on my side that day, against all odds. Somehow I was able to drive this boat, despite the fact I had never done it before in my life.

As we neared our destination, a reality dawned on me. I was not going to be able to dock this thing. In other words, I was only going to be able to beach the boat. There was a high likelihood that it would be damaged beyond repair. A near certainty that we wouldn't be able to get it back in a condition to sail again. Right now, that didn't matter. I just had to get us to that island.

While I fiddled needlessly with the controls I checked the maps. We would be getting there within fifteen minutes.

I considered leaving the boat to its onboard systems and going to Nanoha. I hoped she was still curled up in that blanket, in the room I left her in. All I wanted to do was go to her, but I didn't even know what state she was in right now. She might not appreciate me coming in right now. I struggled to come to an answer, and so I made the lame excuse that I needed to remain here, and continue to meddle with these controls.

We neared the island. I got us close, so that we were guaranteed to hit land. Things were going to break. I rushed off the bridge, fealing my way back to where I had left Nanoha. I looked into the cabin.

She had fallen asleep, swaddled in her blanket. For a brief moment my mind drifted far away from the terrible situation at hand and focused entirely on the beautiful sight before me. Under normal circumstances, I'd never be able to just gaze upon a sleeping girl without suffering consequences.

A sharp groan shook me back to the real world. We were beaching. I rushed forward and adjusted Nanoha, making sure she wouldn't get hurt no matter what happened.

The boat shuddered and heaved. Things fell, smashed. We'd struck land. I needed to collect some items from here. I doubted it had much food or water, but I could take the blankets, maybe even a mattress. I had no intentions of sleeping on the boat, since I suspected it soon wouldn't be in very good condition. I gathered what little consumables there were. I tried to grab new clothes but none of them would fit either of us. I took them anyway. We wouldn't be able to be picky ever again.

I roused Nanoha, shaking her lightly and gently until her purple eyes opened.

"Arthur? Where are we?" she asked, massaging her tired eyes.

"On an island" I said, "far away from anyone, I brought us here on the boat"

"You drove the boat?" she asked.

"Barely" I said, "I don't know how long it will stay in this condition, so we're not going to live on it, we're going to live down on the island".

"A-alright" she said. She was still shaky. I knew any minute, we would both break down into throws of emotion.

Together we struggled out. It was slow progress, carrying all of the things we'd need. I threw most of them off the side of the boat. I considered asking Nanoha to fly us down, but I had serious doubts about her mental state. And my own. Instead I seized a random cable and through it over the side.

"Climb down" I urged.

"O-okay". Nanoha's voice was getting worse. Tears were welling up in her eyes. She was flushing red. She was not going to last. Neither was I. As soon as we touched down on the ground, it would be over for me. The emotions were pressing hard against the barrier of logic and reason in my mind, and that barrier was going to burst. I had no intention of stopping that from happening. I would have to face it eventually and I'd rather it sooner than later. But I needed to remain strong, for just a few more seconds.

We descended to the ground, and I felt my feet hit the sand. I stumbled along for a few steps and then collapsed. My energy was spent, the adrenaline was all gone.

Nanoha fell down, curling her legs up into a seated position.

"They're" I started to say, "they're, all dead"

Nanoha was already crying silently. Tears were rolling down my cheeks too. Yes. My mother, Aaron, all the people I loved and cared about were gone. There was no way they had survived. I still had no idea how we had.

Nanoha had suffered even an even greater loss. Her big family was gone. Her father and mother, sister and brother, Arisa and Suzuka, all dead.

"Yuuno too" Nanoha chocked out, "why!" she clawed at me, begging me for answers, "Arthur!" "Why did they all die? WHY? _**WHY!**_"

"I don't know" I sobbed.

Her grasping hands softened, turning into a simple half-embrace of my chest. I could feel her tears soaking into my still damp clothes. I didn't care. All I could do was pat her back.

So we cried. And we spent hours crying. We succumbed to our emotions and let them rule us. Night turned to day, and day to night, but we barely noticed. I don't know how long we were there, and we were still crying, long after all our tears had gone.

Three Weeks Later

I stood, my feat in the stand. I had abandoned my shoes ages ago. As I suspected the boat had fallen again. Overturned by strong winds. I could easily get Nanoha to turn it back upright again, but I didn't. We hadn't been back on board it yet and we didn't plan to.

I had always hated camping. I preferred the comforts of technology and indoor areas. How ironic that now, I was living outdoor, even fishing to catch food.

I had scavenged equipment, both from the boat, and from the ruins of the castle that stood but a short walk from the shoreline, to build makeshift fishing equipment. I was having mild success. Sometimes of a night, I would be able to cook whatever I caught upon an open fire, and Nanoha could eat. I tried to keep her eating as much as I could, while I fed upon what was left over. If I caught a lot I could eat properly, but if I only caught a single fish, I would always give it to her. I simply wanted to make her as comfortable and happy as I could. The world had ended, and this was all I could do for her now.

She wasn't happy with me going so hungry most of the time, trying to pass me food or give up her share to me. I always denied, and made the excuse I was being a gentlemen. We'd argued about it many times, but in the end, I always wound up simply not eating, or begging her to eat what she wanted.

So now I was resting, looking at the small amount of food I had gotten. Through standing out in the water, leaping around, patiently waiting, and other rather undignified methods I had managed to acquire 5 fish, and one crab. I guessed that meant I would be able to eat a larger amount than usual tonight.

What I was more worried about was water. We had gotten rather a lot of it off the boat. Big canisters of it, from which we filled small flasks that we sipped from, making one bottle last upward of two days sometimes. But soon that would run out. I had to work out a way to make the sea water drinkable with the pathetic equipment I had, and I had to do it soon.

I gathered my meagre catch up in a bag and carried it over my shoulder. They'd have to dry out before we could even cook them. They would smell foul while that happened, but I was used to that by now.

I walked up. I bushed the sand out of my clothes as I did. My rolled up trousers and open, tattered shirt were soaked. I only had a tiny amount of clothes to change into that I had stolen from the boat. I kept one set as pyjamas, one set as a "good set" to were when we ate, and the set I was wearing now, which were my original clothes, which had almost always been wet since the day the disaster happened. Originally they were soaked with Nanoha's sweat, now they were soaked with sea water. I was unsure of which was the preferable option.

Nanoha was worse off, she only had two sets of clothes, and one of them was an ill fitting uniform I had seized from the boat. It wasn't even for women, it was a man's uniform without doubt. But it was the only thing that came remotely close to fitting her.

With the other clothes I had scavenged, I hoped that eventually we would be able to make "new" clothes that we could wear. The reality had dawned on me any times that this wasn't a survival challenge on a TV show, not a break from reality. We were going to be on this island for a long time. Probably the rest of our lives.

On the first night after we had finally pulled ourselves together and finished crying, Nanoha had tried to contact her organisation, the TSAB. But apparently whatever had caused the sky to turn such a sickly colour had sealed off inter-dimensional communications. She couldn't talk to them, she had no way to get back.

I had also ripped the boat's hull when beaching it, and rendered it useless for sailing away. All it was really good for now was an emergency shelter. It was filling up with insects and water anyway; it wouldn't be any good for living in permanently.

Still walking up toward the ruins, I glanced into the sky. It was darkening now, into its night-shade of deep green. The blue sky we had all took for granted was long gone now. The longer I thought about it, the more convinced I became that the world had ended due to some kind of extraterrestrial influence. After all, what else could be so powerful that it changed the very colour of the sky?

It didn't really matter. What had happened had happened. There was no going back now. All my academic qualifications and intelligence were largely useless now. I half chuckled to myself as I once again realised that most of my life had thus been wasted on obtaining them.

I kept walking and thinking, my feat finally stepping onto the hard, stone floor of the castle ruins. No roof and barely any walls, but at least there was somewhere to live.

No, my life hadn't been wasted. I'd enjoyed it. All that sleeping and writing, watching cartoons and visiting friends had been fun. It had been worth it. Winning the awards at school had given me a sense of pride, attending collage had been some of the best times of my life. Learning had been fun, as all the children's education programs had used to say.

And then of course, there was the girl that I had bumped into on the street so long ago. The girl that went on to become my best friend, even when we were apart for so long. The girl I had survived the end of the world with, now my only source of human contact. The only person who had ever inspired me.

I looked down to see her kneeling in front of a dwindling fire. Her tattered clothes weren't giving her much warmth, but she hardly ever complained. As I entered the destroyed room, she looked up to me.

"Welcome back Arthur" she said, smiling.

I dropped the bag down, slowly lowering myself to sit beside her.

"Hello, Nanoha." I said.

Her smile was the one last thing I considered worthwhile in this dead world. I lived to make her happy, just so I could see it. She still inspired me, even now. But they only forms that inspiration could take these days were determination to get more food, or small stories I made up to entertain us before we slept. No television or computers, so that was all we had.

"Did you get anything for us to eat today?" Nanoha asked.

"Yeah" I said, gesturing to the bag, "you can have it later."

"Arthur!" she said, grasping my shoulders, "you have to eat as well, you can't go on like this without nutrition!"

"Fine, fine" I sighed, not willing to argue, "I'll eat some too"

"You have to look after yourself," Nanoha said, her expression falling, "I know you're looking out for me, but it's not good that your health is suffering."

I nodded. She was concerned about me, she always was. Just like I was concerned about her. It seemed that neither of us were really concerned with ourselves. That was good, I supposed. Selfishness wouldn't really get us anywhere. If we were to lose each other, we'd lose the only person we had left to be with. Then even continuing an existence would be pointless and death would be a better option to surviving in this empty place.

As the sky kept getting darker, and continued to change from yellow to green, I was reminded of the nights I had lay awake during collage, thinking about what I would do when I graduated. Now I was here. My career was to survive, and to try and be as happy as I could.

In theory, that wasn't bad at all. No need to bother with boring office jobs or annoying bosses. No need for money at all, what value did money have in a world where there was no economy? You couldn't buy something if you wanted it, now you had to go out and take it by force.

I was sure there might be some survivors other than us, but I expected that they were scattered far and wide. There might be whole countries now empty, or perhaps populated by a single person. The last humans on this planet could probably be counted in under a minute.

The night went on, and eventually we managed to cook what I had caught. I would have eaten minimal, but Nanoha was particularly insistent tonight.

"Eat it!" she said, pushing the fish toward me.

"You eat it," I retorted half-heartedly, failing to suppress the loud groan from my stomach. Shut up stomach.

"You need to eat more Arthur!" Nanoha's face was almost angry. I smiled. I had rarely seen that side of her.

"You're more important" I said lazily. My stomach groaned again. I wish she didn't have that fish so close to my face. It was making me hungrier.

"I'm not!" Nanoha insisted, pushing the food toward me again, "please Arthur, eat it for me" she said, her expression softening into a pleading look.

Damn. Now I wouldn't be able to refuse at all. Not just because of the look on her face, but because she had asked me to do it for her.

"Fine" I said, not letting on that I would do it because she had used that choice of words. Otherwise she'd defiantly take advantage of that in the future.

I ate away at the semi-raw fish. Not a particularly pleasant taste, but that was irrelevant now. All that matters is that we got to feed. So I consumed the fish, gratefully.

They sky was completely dark now, the light of the stars and the glow of the fire were now the only illuminations. The moon wasn't visible, it hadn't been since the disaster had hit. Had it been destroyed? The lack of tidal related-consequences indicated not. Nevertheless, since that day when the sky hand changed colour, I had not seen the moon again.

Since there was no point in staying awake any longer, I decided to go to sleep. Nanoha had already retired to our "bed", a few mattresses piled on top of each other, with the thickest blanket I could find pulled over them. Like everything else we now lived with, it wasn't much. Since we could only construct one "bed" like this, we shared it. At first it had been embarrassing, but the body heat we shared at least made it warmer and slowly we had begun to find it more normal. I wondered if we would be considered to be "in a relationship", in the conventional sense. We might be by default, but I had never made any moves to intentionally enter one. I didn't even know if I had feelings like that for Nanoha.

No, that was a lie. I definitely had feelings for her. It had taken me a long, long time to realise it, but I liked Nanoha much more than as a friend. But I was happy as her friend, and we were so close now that I didn't think it would matter if I officially asked her to go out with me. Where would we go out now anyway? No, it was definitely better to keep things as they were between us.

I lifted up the blankets and slipped in beside Nanoha. As I lay my head down to be level with hers, she smiled at me again.

"Sleepy?" she asked.

"Not really" I answered, adjusting the blanket. "Just no point in staying awake."

"Well about that," Nanoha said, and I felt her hand grab my own underneath the cover. I let her take it.

"Yeah?" I queried.

"Well, we haven't really looked around this island much since we came" she said, "maybe tomorrow we could explore it more"

"Don't see why not" I said, though I doubted there would be anything worth finding.

"Mm!" Nanoha nodded, her head almost knocking against mine.

With that I put my arm around her and snuggled closer under the covers. We rolled around and looked up at the open sky. Gentle winds cooled our faces while I stretched my hand toward the sky, as if I was reaching to touch it.

"Are you alright Arthur?" Nanoha asked softly.

"Yeah" I said. How many times had I said that single word: "Yeah"? Far too many I thought. But that didn't matter.

Slowly we both drifted off to sleep.

In my dreams, I was back at home, with everyone around me. Some kind of party apparently. Aaron, Arisa, Suzuka and Nanoha were all there. Even Fate and Yuuno were hanging around. The atmosphere was happy and everyone was smiling.

But I knew it was just a dream. Even before I woke up, I knew. But that didn't stop me from enjoying it. Dreams were the only way I had to again view what once was and to sometimes catch a glimpse of what could have been.

I woke to find myself alone on the mattress. I kicked off the covers and stood up, stretching. I could hear Nanoha. She must have stepped out for a moment to do something. I changed into my "good" clothes. I remembered that Nanoha wanted to explore the island today, so I wouldn't be going after food.

I heard Nanoha's voice from behind me:

"Good morning, Arthur!" A misleadingly happy voice for someone in a situation like ours, but I preferred a happy tone to a sad one any day.

"Morning" I said, without turning around.

I slipped on my damp shoes and ran my hand through my growing hair. I had managed to keep well shaved with a razor that had been in a cabin on the boat, but there were no scissors to be found, so I hadn't been able to give myself a proper hair cut. Luckily my hair seemed to grow slower than most people's.

At last I turned to Nanoha.

"Ready to go?" I asked.

"Mm!" she gave her smile and nodded.

So we set off, wandering away from the castle ruins. Across the dirt and sand we walked, admiring the high cliffs and the shear amount of plant growth there was.

We had walked for hours, pausing several times to talk about something, or gather something from somewhere. I actually found a old pen, which I slipped inside my pocket. I had nothing to write, and nothing to write on, but I was sure that one day I would be able to use this pen.

As the sky once again dwindled into twilight, we stood on a rocky patch of land, the waves lapping up against the bank around ten meters away.

"This is our home isn't it?" Nanoha said. It was the first time she had really spoken about where we lived now.

"Yeah" I sighed

"It's quite pretty…" she continued, "I bet back before all that stuff happened this would have been a beautiful place".

"It was" I said, looking to her, "at least from the pictures I had studied in class, it looked like it was"

"I'd have loved to see it" she said solemnly.

I sighed. What could I tell her? It wasn't like things would get better. That wouldn't happen until the sky turned blue again.

I looked up and my eyes widened.

There _was_ a distant patch of blue sky amongst all the yellow. It was fading in and out of existence, reappearing in different locations. It was far away in the horizon, but it was there. Hope surged through me.

"Nanoha, look!" I said, pointing to it.

She turned and laid eyes upon the blue area, watching it appear and disappear

"Blue sky!" she cried happily.

"Could that mean your communications would work there?" I asked her

"Maybe," she said, "if what's causing the yellow sky is disrupting them then it should"

A plan formed in my mind. Could we escape this world? The thought of leaving the planet and going to a different universe did not bother me. This world was gone anyway.

Yes, yes! It could be done, with Nanoha's magical powers, we could manage it, I was sure!

My thoughts were interrupted by a horrible noise. It sounded like a dog's growl, only far deeper and with strange tones in it.

I turned with Nanoha to see what had made that noise.

Nanoha screamed a little when she saw it. I gasped.

It was a creature unlike anything I had seen before, scaly and with a thick body. It had a tail lined with spikes. Its head was elongated, and its mouth appeared to consist of four sides that sprung open, revealing rows upon rows of teeth. It had only one visible eye, which was bright blue. It salivated as it slowly advanced upon us.

"What is that thing?" Nanoha shouted, reaching down her top. She was going for Raising Heart, which was probably a very good thing.

"I don't know" I said. The reality of this creature was quite clear to me. It was an alien, though not an intelligent one by the looks of it. My theory was right. The world had ended because of an alien influence.

Nanoha had Raising Heart resting in the palm of her hand.

"Raising Heart," she said to it, "what is it?"

The metallic, cool voice of Raising Heart rang out:

"Unknown." "The creature does not conform to any available records." "This a new species"

"Oh my god" I said, unable to think of anything more intelligent.

"Raising Heart!" Nanoha shouted, holding up the little jewel, "set up!"

"All right, Standby ready"

I turned my head away from Nanoha as pink light flooded the area. She was transforming her outfit to her barrier jacket. This was the first time I had seen her do this in years.

I could hear the noises as Raising Hearts staff form built up, the swish of Nanoha's clothes vanishing and her new ones forming on her. I kept my eyes focused on the creature, until the light faded. I looked to Nanoha.

She was standing tall, aiming her staff out in front of her. Her side ponytail had split into two on either side of her head, reminiscent of the two tiny ones she used to have as a young girl. They were a lot longer now though. Her white, blue and gold outfit had changed little, but still looked somehow different.

"Arthur" she said confidently, "stand back."

I obeyed.

"Accel Fin" Raising Heart chimed.

The pink wings formed on Nanoha's feet and she rose into the air, flying toward the creature, still aiming her staff.

"Raising Heart, Accel Shooter, full burst!" I heard her shout to the staff

"All right", Raising Hearts voice was still clearly audible.

Several pink bursts of energy shot from the front of Nanoha's staff, all converging on the creature in bright streams.

But the creature jumped, avoiding them. The ground was blasted into fragments. The horrid beast snarled at Nanoha, snapping its strange mouth.

She landed a short distance away from it.

"Raising Heart" she said again, holding the staff out horizontally.

The red globe at the centre of the head flashed.

"Analysis complete" it said, "The creature is agile and durable." "Conventional attacks will not be effective against it"

"Then what will?" asked Nanoha, keeping her eyes on the creature.

I heard Raising Heart talk again. It was hard to watch both Nanoha and the creature that was pacing before her.

"Only one attack within my Database will be effective Master"

I was sure Nanoha was about to ask for what that attack was, but the creature leapt at her, swinging its thick tail, slamming her across the ground. She hit it once, then bounced and hit it again. The staff form of Raising Heart clattered away from her. She lay, unmoving on the ground.

"NO!" I shouted, but the creature was advancing on her now, while she was defenceless.

I did the only thing I could. I seized a large rock and threw it at the creature, smashing the side of its head. It angrily growled at me, before turning its attention back to Nanoha.

I was already running, sliding between it and her, gathering up the fallen staff as I did.

For the first time I held Raising Heat in my own hands. It was light, but still felt strong.

I knew it wouldn't work, but I still shouted at it.

"Do something!"

Nothing happened as I expected. The creature pounced at us, so I did the only thing I could.

I swung Raising Heart like a bat, slamming it against the skull of the beast.

It howled and was flung back. Angrily it advanced on me again. I held the staff like a sword.

I would fight this creature to the death if I had to.

The sphere at the centre of Raising Heart spontaneously lit up.

"Secondary user recognised, unauthorised access" it said.

"I don't care!" I shouted at it desperately, "Just help me protect Nanoha!"

The creature got ready to pounce at me again and at that moment, I felt a tingling sensation in my arms.

"All right" Raising Heart said.

The creature leapt forward toward me. With a flash of pink energy, the glowing, intricate shield formed in front of the staff. The creature slammed into it, howling in pain as the energy coursed through it. It was flung far away.

I collapsed in exhaustion, I felt drained. I was shaking.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and looked up to see Nanoha. She wasn't hurt, but she was struggling to move nonetheless.

In the distance I saw the creature get up and begin to run. It was advancing on us at an amazing pace. It would be upon us soon.

"We have to kill that thing" I said.

"I can't use my magic properly" Nanoha said despairingly, "how are we going to stop it?"

"I'll help you" I declared, "Raising Heart, I can help right?"

"You have acceptable latent magic ability; you will suffice to aid my master"

Nanoha looked at me smiling.

"Arthur, you can use magic!"

I nodded, that was pretty amazing indeed. But I was too focused on staying alive to allow myself even a small celebration.

The beast was getting closer. Nanoha put her hand on Raising Heart. Together, we pointed it out toward the creature.

"Shooting mode set up" Raising Heart said. In a pink glow, it morphed into shooting form.

"You know what spell we need to use right?" Nanoha asked me.

I flashed back to so long ago, sitting on the train, travelling to the fields to see Nanoha's magic for only the second time. I knew the spell.

"Put all your power into it" Nanoha said calmly, "feel the magic inside you, and force it into Raising Heart"

I nodded.

A huge magical circle formed at the tip of the staff, bigger than any one I had ever seen. It slowly rotated. Glowing pink particles of light flew into the centre, building up into a huge ball of energy.

"Load Cartridge Magazine"

The sliding part at the top of Raising Heart slid back and foruth, jettisoning empty cartridges everywhere. The ball of magical pink energy grew even bigger.

The creature was getting closer now, it was within range to jump at us. As it leapt I closed my eyes. I felt I was totally in sync with Nanoha, we were closer than ever before.

"Ready?" she asked me.

"Mm!" I nodded. I sounded like her.

Together we breathed deep, and then shouted the name of the spell in perfect harmony:

"_**Starlight Breaker!**_"

A huge beam of pink energy shot forward, engulfing the creature and continuing to blast out toward the sea. It annihilated everything in its path, cracking the ground and creating waves across the ocean. We held strong, pouring our energy into the beam.

It was a strange experience, but somehow controlling the flow of this new energy came easily to me. Soon the massive beam dwindled, fading away.

The creature was gone, and there was a massive deep crater in the ground where the beam had scrapped against it. I collapsed down once again. It was over, we had fought off that beast.

And now there was a new issue to deal with.

I stood at the edge of the tall cliff we had looked at hours before. Nanoha was standing by my side. Wind blew through our hair. I looked out to the horizon, watching the erratic patch of blue sky fade away and then return.

"We can't stay here" I said to Nanoha, "they'll be more of those creatures"

"I know" Nanoha said sadly, "but how do you know this will work?"

"I don't" I said shaking my head.

"If it doesn't" Nanoha whispered, "we won't make it back here, we'll…" her voice got even softer, "die".

I took her hand, my resolve stronger than ever.

"Then we die together" I said, "that'd be fine with me"

Nanoha's eyes widened, and I pulled her close into a hug.

"But that _won't_ happen" I said firmly, "I believe that we can make it, that we _WILL _make it!"

Nanoha pulled away from me and looked me in the eyes.

"Alright then" She said.

The pink wings formed on her soles.

"Arthur," she said, "thank you"

"No," I replied, "thank you Nanoha Takamachi, thank you for everything"  
>"Mm!" Nanoha nodded.<p>

I grabbed her around the waist and we stepped up to the edge.

"Let's go, Nanoha": I said, "to our new future"

We jumped.

And then we were falling, until with one great beat, Nanoha's pink wings of energy set us moving, flying toward the patch of blue sky. Flying away from the island, from any land, over the open ocean

Wind rushed against my face. Nanoha looked at me and smiled.

I smiled back.

And we kept flying.

**The End**


End file.
